Steven Universe: Shattered Finale - Home World
by RealDone Universe
Summary: [AU] Three years after leaving earth, Jasper and the Crystal Gems arrive on Home World to take down the Diamonds once and for all. When hit by a setback however that splits them across the planet, they make new allies and enemies, learn the truth about Pearl and Lapis' forgotten pasts, discover Home World's new creations, and their plans with a certain pair of Saiyan women.
1. Welcome Home

Welcome to the Universe! It's been a week of intense planning, but we've finally finished planning the finale of the Steven Universe Shattered Trilogy! If you've been here since the beginning, thanks for coming back and if you're new, I hope you enjoy the story as it continues.

We've made several changes to the lore and characters since the beginning and now that it feels like our own unique spin on the Steven Universe story, we're happy to finally take the characters to a definitive final place in their arcs.

Please, if you enjoy or hate what you're reading, leave a review so we can know what you'd want us to do. Even if you don't have much to say, a review would go a long way in letting us know someone's actually reading so we can be motivated to keep writing for you guys. So without further ado, let's get started!

* * *

**Welcome Home**

JASPER'S MASSIVE bat-shaped spaceship zoomed through space, moving past planet after planet that showed no signs of life. It had been three years since they embarked on their journey, though they were unsure of how much time had passed on earth, and they were drawing closer on their destination: Home World.

The orange gem in question, former Commander under White Diamond, walked through the main living quarters of the ship where Connie, who was now 18, Ruby, Sapphire, Lapis, Amethyst and Lion sat by the windows of the vessel, and made her way to the cockpit. Waiting for the door to slide open, she stepped into the pilot's chambers where Peridot and Greg commandeered the ship, glancing at the small holo-map on the dashboard between the two.

"How far off are we?" Jasper asked.

"Just about a few minutes," Peridot answered without looking at her. "We're receiving life signals from a planet nearby so it's gotta be it."

"I wonder why there's been no life for the past week since we entered this star system." Greg said.

"It's probably because the inhabitants fled from the Diamonds or were killed off by them." Jasper said.

"Well, let's hope it's the former." Peridot shivered. "It'd be unnerving if they could clear out so many civilizations just like that."

"I suppose." Jasper headed out of the room. "I'll tell the others we'll be arriving shortly."

Greg glanced back as the door shut and he turned to Peridot. "Hey, can I pilot the ship now?"

"No."

"Oh, c'mon, it'll only be for a few minutes."

"You want us to simply crash on Home World? I can't trust you on this." Peridot said.

"Hey, I was a Plumber once." Greg frowned.

"Yeah, once, a very long time ago and you barely remember anything." Peridot said. "You don't even know how to initiate a hyper jump."

"Come on, it's getting boring just sitting here doing nothing."

"I said no!" Peridot shut him down, aggravating the man who sat back and frowned.

* * *

PEARL LOOKED around as she walked the streets of Oval Town alongside Gen, smiling as she saw the rebuilt houses on either side of the cobblestone road and people moving past her. She looked to where the Oval used to be and was in awe at the statue of Mira that stood in its place, seeing the flowers resting at its feet and a small crowd of people paying their respects.

"I can't believe you rebuilt so quickly." She said.

"The Breakfast Kingdom works pretty fast – I'm surprised their food based materials actually make strong buildings." Gen said.

"It looks magnificent." She turned to him. "What did you do about the garden that Rose left behind?"

"It was a tough decision, but the people decided to simply leave it be." Gen explained. "To our surprise, it radiates with Gaia Energy as well and it helped the forest regrow."

"I guess Rose really was connected to the earth, for better or worse." Pearl looked to the forest in the outskirts of the small town.

"So, where are you now? Have you found what you're looking for?"

"We're close to Home World now, I can feel it." Pearl paused for a bit. "Whether I'm ready or not, we'll just have to see I guess."

"Well, just stay safe, alright."

"I'll come back as soon as I can, I promise." Pearl held his hand.

Gen tried to speak when Pearl vanished, leaving a slight trail of light on his hand where she last touched. Their connection was slipping the more time passed and the space between their talks was widening, making him wonder if one day they wouldn't see each other again.

In Jasper's ship, Pearl sighed as the holographic projector in the middle of her quarters disconnected, moving over and turning it off entirely.

* * *

CONNIE LOOKED out the window in the ship's main area, astounded by how different space looked depending on which area you're in or how far from a star you were. "So, we're finally heading to Home World, huh? I'm not sure I'm ready honestly."

"Heh, I know I am." Amethyst, who sat across her, stretched back in her seat.

"Sure, except I beat you yesterday in sparring practice."

"You beat me? Bullshit!"

"Bitch, I beat your ass and your know it!" Connie smirked.

"Yeah, and you lost the other day." Amethyst retorted.

"True, I admit that."

"I guess it's a tie then." Amethyst crossed her arms.

"Yeah, but one day you won't be able to match me."

"We'll see about that, kid." Amethyst chuckled.

Connie laughed then paused for a bit, her mood souring. "It's too bad Steven isn't here for this though."

"He hasn't contacted you yet?"

"He didn't leave me any way to in the first place." Connie said. "I just hope he's okay wherever he is."

"Well, I say good riddance; he can stay gone if he wants!" Ruby, who sat on the other side of the room with Sapphire across from her, yelled.

"You were just complaining about how you missed him this morning." Sapphire said, keenly reading her book.

Ruby scoffed. "Surprised you even heard me while reading that crap."

"She's still reading hentai?" Connie asked.

"She hasn't put it down since yesterday." Ruby said.

"You know that stuff will rot your brain, right?"

"I can't believe she won't share any with me." Amethyst said. "Though I coulda just used my phone, but it doesn't work so far away from earth."

"Why do you even read that anyway?" Connie asked Sapphire.

"I don't know." Sapphire shut the book. "I don't even find it arousing, but I'm still interested anyway."

"Yeah, you're just a pervert."

"You got that right; sex with her was always the kinkiest shit." Ruby laughed. "Rarely happened though since we were almost always fused."

"Ugh, I don't wanna hear about that." Connie cringed.

"And neither do I." Jasper said as she walked into the room. "Stay focused on the task at hand; we're here."

"Whoa, we are?" Connie got up and followed her as she headed into the cockpit.

"Yeah, we are." Peridot said as she heard Jasper, Connie and the others enter, standing up and gesturing to the window. "Welcome home!"

Connie's eyes dilated in awe as she took in the magnificent large purple planet adorned by the light of the nearby sun, amazed at the shimmering lights on the surface of the planet and the many interconnected asteroids that floated around it. "It's so beautiful."

"I wouldn't be so taken by its appearance." Pearl said as she entered. "It's a heartless rock I have no fond memories of."

"Well, it does look amazing." Greg said.

"I've had some fond memories from growing up with Rose." Jasper said with a sigh.

"This's your mother's home, Blood Quartz." Helio, who Connie didn't see when she came in, said to a dark-red skinned toddler gem garbed in black clothing and a black breathing apparatus who stood beside him. "What do you think?"

Blood looked to the planet and slowly moved up to the window wordlessly, stopping beside Jasper and holding his hands up to her. Smiling, the orange gem picked the child up. "I wonder if this's the first and last he'll ever see of this place."

"Why does he have to wear that all the time?" Connie gestured to the child.

"Gem children have trouble breathing in their first years of life, so that helps filter the air for them." Pearl said.

Jasper nuzzled Blood and moved over to Helio, handing the child to him. "Take him to his chambers; he shouldn't get caught up in this."

"Sure." Helio took Blood and stepped out of the room.

"Aw, the kid's adorable!" Greg said, getting a glare from Jasper that sent shivers up his spine.

"Alright, let's prepare for our descent." Peridot returned to her seat, turning to Jasper. "Where do you want to land, chief?"

"Take us to Region –,"

"This an emergency! Repeat, this is an emergency! Requesting immediate backup to the Third Home World Sleeper Outpost!" A male voice came on the ship's computer.

"Who's that?" Connie asked.

"It's one of my soldiers." Jasper said, rushing to the control panel and pressing a button. "This's Commander Jasper, what's your status?"

"J-Jasper? Commander, we're under attack!" The man said in a panic.

"What's happening?"

"The M –," Static interrupted the line. "Home World is –,"

The transmission cut. "Soldier?" Jasper asked. "Lieutenant Grey Topaz, what's happening?"

"Uh, guys …" Connie said, pointing to Home World up ahead.

Jasper looked up and backed up in horror as explosions ripped through four of the asteroids around the planet. "What's happening?"

* * *

SOUNDS OF screams and laser fire filled the air on the surface of the Third Home World Security Outpost, the soldiers of Jasper's rebel militia scrambling as they were attacked from all sides by an enemy they never anticipated. Aircraft were knocked out of the sky and the ground cannons were ripped apart by the attacking forces, pushing the soldiers back and cornering them at their base.

"I can't believe these bastards would do this." Grey Topaz frowned as he opened fire and backed toward the main building of the Security Outpost.

"Lieutenant, help me!" A fallen soldier called out from beneath a pile of debris.

"Hang on!" Grey Topaz ran up to the man and tried to get the rubble off him.

An explosion knocked him to the side however and Grey Topaz looked up to see the outpost go up in flames. He got to his feet and panted, seeing the Moss slowly overrun Home World's forces and destroy the asteroid itself. The creatures were made entirely of green living matter, taking up misshapen horrid humanoid forms for combat and shifting into a liquid-like state to corrupt and destroy machines and non-living matter.

A mass of Moss spread rapidly across the ground toward Grey Topaz and he fired at it with his laser rifle, unable to stop the entity as it surrounded him! He shut his eyes, awaiting the inevitable when a sonic wave washed over him, shattering the Moss around him and causing it to scatter like broken glass on the ground.

"What the?" Grey Topaz looked to his left to see Lion running through the battlefield and engaging some Mosslings nearby. He squinted, unsure who the gem was, when he heard Jasper's ship above and looked up, smiling as he saw the orange gem standing by the hanger doors. "Commander!"

Jasper leapt off the ship and came crashing with a punch that cracked the asteroid for several meters around her and knocked back Mosslings nearby. Summoning her helmet around her gemstone, she fired a green photon beam out of her hand, incinerating more of the Moss around her and freeing some of her men. Jumping out of the crater she made, she entered the fray.

Standing from the hangar of the ship, Connie watched as the Moss spread further and further like a green stain over the asteroid, horrified as she saw no end to it. "What is that?"

"That's the Moss, a Home World bioweapon used to obliterate enemies without being detected. They have no energy or heat signature and won't be spotted until it's too late." Pearl frowned. "They were just a fabled dream when I was on Home World, but it seems they've finally completed its creation. Disgusting."

"Well, so basically keep on your toes, right? I go this." Amethyst moved past the two and jumped off the ship.

Amethyst shape-shifted into a large bird as she descended and zigzagged between the Mosslings attacking Jasper's men, wrapping the creatures with her whip that she held in her beak and ascending back into the air, transforming back into her normal form and tossing the lassoed creatures upward, igniting her weapon and incinerating them in a massive explosion that lit the sky!

On the ground, Jasper wrestled with a Mossling and grabbed its neck, smashing it against the ground and blasting it point blank with a photon beam, disintegrating the creature. She rose up and saw more of the creatures nearby when Grey Topaz ran up to her. "Commander!" He called.

"Grey Topaz, what's the situation?" Jasper asked.

"We've lost most of our men already and our cannons are down."

"What happened? Was there a spy among you?" Jasper asked.

"The Moss are attacking us indiscriminately – even soldiers loyal to the Diamonds are getting killed here." Grey Topaz said.

"What madness is this?" Jasper frowned.

"We have to evacuate, we can't fight them like this."

"It's just the Moss, it's no match for us."

"You don't understand, the asteroid's been corrupted." Grey Topaz explained, stunning Jasper as she realized what it meant.

In the ship above, Connie donned her space helmet and prepared to jump onto the asteroid when tremors rippled through the craft, nearly causing her and Pearl to fall off their feet. "What the?"

"Something's hit the ship!" Peridot cried. "We're going down!"

On the asteroid, Jasper watched in horror as a gigantic mass of Moss shot out of the ground, struck the ship from below, and dragged it downward! Reacting quickly, Jasper flew toward the spacecraft when another swathe of Moss erupted from beneath her and bound her, pulling her further away. She struggled against the pull when she looked at the asteroid from above, horrified as the green entity and ripped through it, slowly demolishing it from the inside!

Amethyst burned down a Mossling from nearby and was bound by another as well, forced to watch as Jasper's men nearby were gutted like fish. Grey Topaz watched as his comrades died around him, seeing his Commander hung helpless above him and her ship burning to the ground. With all hope lost, he typed on a keypad on his gauntlet and looked up to Jasper.

"I'm sorry, Commander." He pressed one more button.

Jasper went pale as she realized what he'd done, hearing the main building of the outpost erupt in flames as the asteroid began to self-destruct! The blazing fires engulfed her men below and Grey Topaz watched as the Moss was incinerated, smiling as he was swallowed in the blast as well.

"Grey!" Jasper cried out, immediately getting knocked aside by the shockwave.

The security outpost's explosion sent Jasper, Amethyst and the ship that held Connie and the Gems flying outward and crashing towards Home World below! The aircraft broke apart in the heat of re-entry and the gems were separated, falling like meteors to the ground below.

* * *

LIGHTS SHIMMERED in the sky above as a chunk of Jasper's ship hurtled to the ground and smashed against the sandy rise of a small pink desert, kicking up dust and coming to a creaking stop. Steam rose from the vessel as it slowly cooled and one of its doors flew open as Helio kicked his way out while holding Blood Quartz in one hand, using his free hand to pull out Connie who fell unconscious and giving way for Pearl and Ruby who squeezed their way out and collapsed on the ground gasping for breath.

Helio looked around, expected a barrage of Home World soldiers to attack when he saw the faint lights of the asteroids in space exploding one after another. "Home World's defenses are down …" He sifted his mind in confusion and turned to see Jasper standing a few feet away looking blankly into the distance.

"They're all gone, all of them …" Jasper said shakily. "My armies have been wiped out."

"How do you …" Helio cut himself off as he heard radio static from her gauntlet. "They found us out?"

"It doesn't make sense, I was thorough …" Jasper shook her head. "I had very few sleepers and I had soldiers in far off systems, how did they find them all?"

"Jasper –,"

"Everything is gone, Helio!" Jasper yelled. "Our last chance to defeat the Diamonds is gone!" Her tone softened. "Those were my brothers; I fought with them for years and they're …"

Helio saw the emptiness and grief in Jasper's eyes and walked up to her, hesitating to speak, and she embraced him tightly, wordlessly seeking comfort in him.

Connie groaned as she slowly came to a few feet behind them, seeing Pearl who sat beside her. "What happened?"

"I think we might've lost already." Pearl said, looking to Ruby who searched around their crashed portion of the ship.

"Nobody else is here." Ruby walked up to them. "We gotta go find the others."

"But where do we start?" Connie stood up.

Pearl looked around, trying to think, when she saw small buildings peaking in the distance. "I think I know where we are."

"Is this …?" Ruby asked.

"Region Pink." Jasper said as she stepped away from Helio. "The home of Pink Diamond."

"Is that a military camp or something?" Connie asked.

"No, the energy signature from there is too low." Jasper said. "Come on, let's see what it is."

Jasper, Helio, Pearl, Connie and Ruby traversed the patchy desert toward the buildings they saw, coming closer and realizing that it was a small town with damaged old structures. In the town were several low level gems with numbers tattooed on their necks that immediately turned their attention to them as they arrived, the weaker among them backing away as they sensed Jasper and Helio's power.

"Stop right there!" A small Carnelian ran up to them and held out a rusty spear. "Who are you? State your business before I gut ya!"

"Watch where you're pointing that, you little runt." Jasper snapped the weapon like a twig.

Carnelian yelped. "Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Everybody run and hide!" She darted off, annoying Jasper.

"I'm sorry about that." A blue Pearl walked up to them. "She dropped out of training, but still feels she's has to fight somebody." She chuckled then gasped as she saw Pearl, her eyes wide in awe. "Whoa, you're a pearl! You're so pretty!"

"I haven't seen another pearl in a long time." Pearl said, chuckling uneasily as Blue Pearl shook her hand eagerly.

"You haven't? Oh, you must work for a high ranking commander or something." Blue Pearl said, looking to Jasper. "And you sure look like a commander, oh – where're my manners!" She curtsied. "Welcome, Commander … uh …"

"There's no need to kiss my ass, I'm not a commander anymore." Jasper said.

"Really? With your energy level? And they cast you aside to this place?"

"What do you mean cast aside?" Connie asked.

"Oh, you're a peculiar looking gem; must've failed shape-shifting training or something." Blue noted. "Well, this's the Slave Village, all of us here are deemed unfit to live in the inner cities because we have nothing to offer in service to the Diamonds, so we toil away in the mines run by Bismuth." She pointed to a mountain range behind her.

"Wait, Bismuth is here?" Ruby asked.

"Well, no, she went missing a few years ago, but we still follow her strict schedule and do what we can." Blue Pearl said with a smile. "If we fail here as well, we get shattered."

"That's not something to smile about." Connie said.

"When you toil away for the Diamonds, you learn to take their bullshit and like it." A Pink Pearl frowned as she walked passed them. "You guys must've been in the highest rank in Region Blue to be this ignorant of what's happening on the ground."

"I'm sorry, but we're in a bit of a rush." Pearl interjected. "We're trying to find the inner city; do you know where it is?"

"You wanna find the inner city? I'm sorry, but that's not a good idea." Blue Pearl said.

"Who's tryna go to the inner city again?" An old gnarly male voice came.

"Oh, Old Topaz, they're just passersby, there're not from here." Blue Pearl said hastily to a large old yellow-skinned gem with a scar across his face clad in a dark coat.

"Slaves or not, yer not gonna get into the inner city." Old Topaz said.

"And why is that?" Pearl asked.

"Haven't ya heard? Rumor has it Black Diamond has awoken and his forces are coming this way."

"There're male diamonds?" Connie raised her brow. "And what do you mean by 'awoken'?"

"Wait, did you say Black Diamond?" Jasper asked with a frown.

"Yer heard me, soldier." Old Topaz growled.

"Then that means they want to wipe out this village." Jasper realized.

* * *

A PIECE of Jasper's ship fell out of a portal for transport ships and crashed into a small river in a park, instantly sinking to the bottom. Bubbles gathered on the surface and out of the depths came Lapis who carried Sapphire onto the grassy bank. "Don't get any hentai fantasies off this shit." She dropped the smaller gem on the ground.

"What? I just read it for amusement."

"Yeah, sure, tell yourself that." Lapis waved her hand, drying herself instantly and looked around, her face paling as she saw where they were. "Fuck."

"What's going on?" Sapphire turned around, fear written all over her face. "Oh man."

The two blue women tensed up as a large highly advanced, white and sterilized city filled with grey and white buildings and airships traversing the skies spread out around them. The people who they could see in the distance were all clad in white and all had some kind of prosthetic or cybernetic enhancements to them.

"We have to get out of here quickly before we get detected." Lapis said, shape-shifting and altering her face, changing her clothes as well to fit in with the residents.

"Region White." Sapphire said, doing the same. "This's probably the worst place to end up in right now."

"Wait, where's Peridot?" Lapis looked around.

"I don't think anyone else was in the ship." Sapphire looked to the river behind them.

"We need to find her." Lapis walked off.

"Hold on, we can't just go running blind; we'll get spotted that way."

"But what if she gets hurt? Or –,"

"Lapis, calm down, she'll be fine." Sapphire said, seeing the panic in her eyes subside. "You really care about her, don't you?"

"She's the most important thing to me." Lapis composed herself and walked toward the street nearby. "Let's find a way out of here."

Sapphire followed her onto the sidewalk of a street surrounding the small park, trying not to react to the curious glances some gems sent their way. Crossing the road and bemused the hovering traffic, the pair searched for the city's exit when they came upon a large lateral egg shaped chrome building with a line of gems at its entrance. Unable to resist their curiosity, they joined the queue and slowly entered the premises.

Sapphire and Lapis entered the building and found themselves on a tour of a science facility, immediately dismayed at their find when a hovering screen nearby scanned their brain waves. The two adept telepaths put up a false series of thoughts, masking both conscious and unconscious minds and continued with the tour group, unable to leave at this point without drawing attention to themselves. The facility's AI communicated with them psychically as they went, showing them some of Home World's recent advancements in bioscience.

Nothing particularly piqued their interest until they were shown a massive assembly hall where gemstones were ferried down a line of conveyer belts. The two struggled to mask the horror on their faces, only showing mild amusement on the outside, as they saw the stones forming into gem babies once they were sent under a machine that shone a light on them.

"And here is our new state of the art Gemification Lab designed by White Diamond herself!" The computer said with elation. "Unlike the clunky old gemification of living species, this new method creates gems from the ground up cell by cell! No soul, no resistance, all programming ready to serve Home World at optimum efficiency!"

The tour group erupted in applause upon the announcement, Lapis and Sapphire dumbfounded as the children were carried into tubes that connected to the upper floor into the waiting arms of excited assigned mothers. The realization donned on them the more the watched the cold display, Home World had gotten all the Gaia Energy they needed when they invaded Beach City long ago; they now had the power to create life itself!

* * *

"THEY WANT to wipe out the village? Then we've gotta get outta here, right?" Connie said in surprise as she stood amongst Jasper, Pearl, Helio, Ruby, Old Topaz, Blue and Pink Pearl in the middle of the Slave Village.

"There ain't no point leavin' here." Old Topaz said. "If Pink Diamond or her soldiers found us anywhere else, they'd shatter us for deserting our posts. If Home World deems us unfit to live period, then so be it."

"You can't be serious." Jasper frowned.

"Look around you," The old gem gestured to the haggard and tired villagers around him. "There's nothin' we can do to stop this even if we tried."

"You guys have a choice and we don't." Pink Pearl walked off. "If you weren't cast out here, then leave. If not, resign to your fate."

"No, I won't accept that." Pearl walked up to Blue and Pink Pearl, stopping them in their tracks. "You still have a choice; you can decide what lives you want to live."

"We had our entire lives planned out for us the moment we were born and assigned to our Diamonds and they got tired of us." Blue Pearl said. "We've already lived our lives and failed; all that awaits us is death."

"If you still believe in the fairy tales they taught you in education, then you worse off than us." Pink Pearl frowned. "You live to fall in line around here and if they tell you to die then you do it too; pearls exist to serve and that's all." She scoffed and walked off. "I'm surprised your Diamond didn't have you shattered already."

Pearl froze in place as the other two pearls walked off, thinking and turning to Jasper and the others. "We can't just leave them like this."

"It doesn't look like they want to be saved." Helio said.

"Well, we'll save them whether they want to be saved or not." Pearl said. "We need a plan."

* * *

WORRY PLAGUED Ruby's mind as she trekked the sandy deserts near the Slave Village, trying to clear her thoughts and calm down. They'd lost their ship, Jasper's armies were gone and they didn't know where the others ended up, but there still had a chance to stop Home World and get back to earth. There had to be.

She pondered this when she heard something crunch at her feet, looking down and backing away in terror as she'd stepped in the remains of a shattered gemstone! She raised her head and felt an immediate coldness fill her as she saw an endless sea of corpses splayed on the ground before her! The scent of blood and smoke was strong in the air, the ripped apart limbs and internal organs lay scattered making her hyperventilate as she tried to articulate what she was seeing.

A shuffling sound cut through her panic however and she turned to her right to see a gem dragging himself from under a pile of bodies, covered in blood and soot. Not thinking about it, Ruby rushed to the man's aid, moving the corpses over and pulling him up to a sitting position. The red-skinned gem had black hair, wore an eye-patch and was clad in a dark coat over a black shirt, pants and boots. He was covered in wounds, but was slowly healing and he looked up to thank her when the horrid sight unfolded before him.

"No, no, no!" The gem panicked, trying to stand and held back by his stinging wounds. "Patchy, Iron Arm! The Slave Village!"

"Hold on, just try and breathe." Ruby said. "What happened here?"

"There was a battle and I –," the gem grunted, holding his side and closing the open wound over his ribs. "The Moss were coming …" He hissed in pain. "They were going to invade the Slave Village and the rubies and I tried to stop them."

"The rubies?" Ruby raised her brow, looking up and realizing that all the corpses were dead ruby soldiers. "Oh God …"

"We tried to stop them, but they were too many." The gem spoke, clenching his fist and holding back tears. "They killed all of them."

"Where're the Moss now?" Ruby asked.

"They must have detoured and gone to wreak havoc elsewhere." The gem said. "The Moss never leave bodies behind, so we must've deterred them enough to change course."

"We have to get you back to the others." Ruby stood up. "Can you walk?"

"I think I can." The gem said, grunting as Ruby helped him up.

Ruby guided the gem through the pile of corpses, keeping an eye out for any others that moved and feeling out for any energy signatures, and she walked him out of the area, heading toward the Slave Village. The man felt too light despite being taller than her and he also looked familiar as she glanced at him, wondering if she'd met him before.

"Do I know you?" The gem finally spoke.

"I, don't know …" Ruby paused for a moment. "I don't think I've met you before, but you seem familiar for some reason."

"Then you must've met my twin sister Leggy." The gem said. "She's a soldier under White Commander Jasper, one of the top tiers in her squad." He smiled. "I haven't seen her in forever."

"Oh, I see the resemblance now." Ruby said, her heart sinking to her stomach as she remembered Leggy's final moments in Beach City.

"I'm Nalar, I was a former soldier under Pink Diamond herself."

"I'm Ruby." Ruby forced a smile.

"Just Ruby?"

"Apparently." Ruby said. "Nobody in my squad thought of anything unique to call me, so I just go by Ruby."

"There's no shame in that; I gave myself this name actually." Nalar chuckled. "You say you've met my sister? How long ago was this?"

"Oh, just a few months." Ruby said. "She's off-world though, but she and her squad were doing well."

"Well, at least she doesn't have to see me in such a sorry state." Nalar said. "I just hope I can see her soon one of these days."

"Yeah." Ruby felt a lump in her throat. "Yeah, she'll be happy to see you again."

Nalar huffed and stepped away from her, dusting himself off and walking with a slight limp. "Come on, let's get to the Village before nightfall."

* * *

CONNIE LAUGHED hysterically at the table as she, Pearl, Jasper and Helio had dinner under dim crystal light with Old Topaz and the locals in the community building of the small town. "And I told Yellow Diamond, 'why don't ya shove that medal up yer ass, you old hag!'" Old Topaz yelled in a drunken slur.

"It's not that funny of a story." Pearl chuckled uneasily as she rocked Blood Quartz then frowned at Connie who nearly fell over with laughter beside her. "See, I told you that you couldn't handle Home World alcohol."

"Ah, give her a break, she's old enough now." Jasper said from across the table. "But the old man's bullshittin', you can't say that to Yellow Diamond and live to tell the tale."

"I swear, Yellow and I were that close back in the day."

"Bullshit! The only friends Diamonds have are other diamonds, that's it." Jasper sat back. "Those degenerate shits are so blasé about people that they referred to us by numbers for years until the rubies made up names for the rest of us."

"Wait, the rubies are the ones who gave us names?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah, they're bad at counting, so they just called each other by their species and a unique trait and it spread to the rest of the military until everyone started doing it." Jasper said. "I'm lucky I'm the only Jasper who's just called 'Jasper' or life as a lieutenant in my squad would be hell."

"Hmm, seems that's another thing we have in common because I never got a prefix either." Helio said.

"Neither did I or the other Crystal Gems now that I think about it." Pearl stroked her chin.

"Well, it's not a perfect system, but it's better than the number system." Jasper said. "I'd hate to reach a point where we had gems with six digit names."

"Wait, you're the Crystal Gems?" Blue Pearl asked.

"Well, that's surprising." Pink Pearl said.

"Whoa, fer real? Shit, I didn't think such legends would stop by this lil ol' town." Old Topaz said.

"Hold up, you guys were legends?" Connie said, trying not to drop her cup.

"Well, shit, the Battle of Blue Palace, the Raid of Stormy Creak and the Great Gem War; the Crystal Gems all but led a revolution that pulled many gems out of their shitty servitude to those giant cunts!" Old Topaz said.

"Uh, I wouldn't be so loud, Old Topaz, someone might hear us." Blue Pearl said.

"Ah, nobody of high rank has been here since Bismuth went missing, so who cares honestly." Pink Pearl said.

"I wonder what number I was referred to as." Helio said, still stuck on the previous topic, then chuckled. "I kind of forgot."

"Wait, you're still on that?" Pink Pearl said.

"I was 717." Jasper said.

"1216." Pearl said.

"958." Nalar said as he entered the room, drawing attention to himself and Ruby who was not too far behind.

"Nalar! It's been a few days, where've you and the rubies been?" Old Topaz asked.

Nalar tried to answer when he saw the smiling faces at the table, unwilling to ruin the mood. "Uh, they decided to scout ahead to stop the Moss from getting closer."

"Ah, that's good." Old Topaz said then huffed. "Man, if only I still had my strength." He tapped a large photon axe that hung on the wall behind him. "If me and the boys were still together, we could've taken out the Moss already." He crossed his arms. "Amber Topaz, Lily Carnelian, Undying Ametrine, Rogue Zircon, Wise Jasper, rest their souls."

Jasper frowned as she heard the names he spoke, rising from the table. "Excuse me for a sec." She left the room, worrying Helio who saw the shock on her face.

Helio walked off and followed her and Old Topaz raised his brow, tasting the soup and shrugging. "Guess some people can't handle spicy food."

Jasper stepped into a nearby hallway and came to a stop, leaning against the wall and breathing heavily as it hit her. Helio followed her and raised his brow in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Those soldiers Old Topaz mentioned, those were my old war buddies." Jasper said.

"And what of it? Did they die?"

"Yes." Jasper frowned. "I'm the one who killed them."

Back in the dining hall, Pink Pearl drank the last of her booze and wiped her lip, trying not cough. "Well, if you Crystal Gems are so great, I'd like to see it for myself once we get outta here."

"I thought you guys wanted to stay." Connie said.

"Fuck that; now that we know who you are, we're not just gonna back down and give up."

"You Crystal Gems have done so much for the little guy, we can't just roll over after all you've accomplished." Old Topaz said.

Pearl looked around the room, nearly tearing up with joy at their admiration of them. "Thanks, you guys."

The group continued eating when the doors burst open as Carnelian rushed into the room. "We've got an emergency! We've got an emergency!"

"Carnelian, what're you blubbering on about now? This's isn't the time for games." Old Topaz frowned.

"The Moss are coming!"

* * *

MEANWHILE IN space, loud music blasted in the Capsule Corp spaceship as it soared through space, annoying 24-year-old Trunks who moved through the main area cluttered with snack packets and cans into the cockpit of the ship where 23-year-old Goten sat at his chair with his feet on the control panel.

"Goten, what the hell are you doing!?"

"What? it's just Post Malone." Goten sat up.

"Get your damn feet of the controls!" Trunks pushed his legs off and sat beside him, checking on the scanners. "Dammit, I can't believe Goku forced me to carry you along."

"Hey, you know you couldn't pull off this mission on your own."

"I'd have found Kale and Caulifla already if wasn't for you fooling around!" Trunks yanked out Goten's phone from the computer and tossed it aside.

"Hey, I just bought that!" Goten rushed to pick up the mobile.

Trunks shook his head and checked on the ship's onboard computer, excitement spreading on his face as he saw its readings. "Hey, the ship's detected two Ki energy signatures on a nearby planet, and they're pretty strong too."

"Man, you cracked the screen protector!" Goten whined as he picked up the phone.

"Dude focus, we just found Caulifla and Kale." Trunks said.

"Whoa, seriously?" Goten walked back into the room.

"It says the planet they're on is called … Home World?" Trunks became puzzled. "What kinda name is that?"

"Whatever it is, put this ship in high gear and let's find those to chicks!" Goten said excitedly. "I heard they were pretty hot, bruh."

Trunks groaned. "I wish this was a solo mission."

* * *

IN REGION White, White Diamond stepped into a large room in one of her various laboratories and slid icons around on a holographic screen before her, dismissing it as she came upon to two glass pods connected to various machinery in the room where Kale and Caulifla lay unconscious. The Diamond looked at them curiously as the containment units scanned their energy readings as the women went into their Super Saiyan forms while out cold.

"Perfect." White Diamond said.

* * *

And there you go, chapter one! Hopefully it wasn't too long and unfortunately, I feel some chapters later on may get even longer. There's so much we wanted to cover, so please bear with us if it gets a little weighty.

Don't forget to leave a review, follow or favorite and come back for the next chapter "The Moss". Thanks for reading.


	2. The Moss

**The Moss**

PEARL'S EYES shone as she looked into the darkness of the night whilst standing amongst Jasper, Helio, Ruby, Connie and Carnelian in front of the community building, seeing through as clear as day as she searched the area for the Moss Carnelian seen before. The once lively town was now completely silent, the gems cowering inside their poorly boarded up makeshift buildings they called homes as they awaited the terrors they heard rumors about. Failing to see anything, Pearl turned to Carnelian who clung to her spear that she'd patched up from before.

"Are you sure you saw the Moss?" Pearl asked.

"I swear I did! It was green and it was moving around a bunch." The little gem replied. "It didn't seem to spot me when I spotted it near the village, so I rushed back to tell ya."

"If they're here, we won't be able to detect them even if we tried." Helio frowned. "They have no heat or energy signature, we'd only spot them when we see them."

"Well, that sounds like a headache." Connie frowned, clutching the hilt of Rose's Sword.

"Okay, you gotta go back inside with the others." Pearl told Carnelian.

"And what about y'all?" Old Topaz said as he stepped out of the building. "You don't wanna fight these things and have 'em spread everywhere. Let 'em just move past when they don't detect anything here."

"Guess your info on the Moss isn't up to scratch, huh, old man." Jasper said. "The Moss don't need an energy signature, they can sense gemstones – if they're here, they'll find us and attack us."

Old Topaz huffed then smirked. "Then give those little shits hell." He headed back inside with Carnelian.

Jasper turned to Helio. "I'll need to bubble Blood."

Helio nodded, handing over the toddler who looked at him curiously. "Right."

Jasper smiled as she took her baby in her arms, moving her hand over his chest gemstone. "I'll see you soon, little one." She pressed her thumb on his crystal, fazing into it slightly, and caused the child to poof and retract into the stone. Holding the stone firmly in hand, she fused it into her arm and stepped forward. "Alright, let's do this."

Connie raised her brow in shock. "What did she just –,"

"Now's not the time for questions." Ruby shut her down.

Pearl, Jasper, Helio, Ruby and Connie stepped away from the community building into the center of the Slave Village, the gems able to see in the dark via other light spectrums and Connie through her suit's helmet, and they looked around, wondering what was going on. They looked around on the ground, at every building around them for a bit, beginning to question if they'd been pranked by Carnelian when a shrill cry cut through the air to their right.

The noise caught their attention and another scream came from their left in the distance, followed by a few others that quickly turned into a chaotic noise that filled the small town. Connie drew her blade, wondering which sound to follow when a massive mass of Moss came barreling down toward the five up ahead, splitting up rapidly into Mosslings that started tearing into nearby houses!

"It's them!" Connie cried.

"Everybody split up!" Jasper ordered and charged onward.

Jasper's body radiated in energy as she burst forward and collided right with the Mosslings, flying further into the town and taking on the hordes of Mosslings. Connie tried to assess the monsters and Ruby stayed behind her, unsure of what to do when a large Bloodstone rushed past them and smashed through a Mossling with a punch, jolting them out of their thoughts. Seeing Helio hover in the air conjuring the mindless soldiers, they shook themselves out of it.

"Connie, Ruby, you two help evacuate the villagers." Pearl said, her body glowing as she summoned seven clones around her. "Helio, Jasper and I will try and hold these guys off as long as we can and keep them from reaching the community building."

"You got it." Connie nodded and rushed towards a nearby house when a cluster of Moss washed right over her, swallowing her whole!

"Connie!" Ruby cried out.

* * *

A BLUE beam of energy tore through the orange dust-filled skies of a far-off planet, the rays of energy bombarding Steven's body as he tried to shield himself with nothing but his arms crossed before him. The Super Saiyan unleashing the attack, now using one arm, hovered in the air a few feet ahead of him, chuckling as the young boy was barely able to move.

"Come on, whatcha doing?" Goku called out.

"Hey, a Kamehameha isn't just a regular Ki blast, alright!" Steven yelled.

"Well, I won't let up until you can break outta it."

Steven frowned as he tried to think, starting to panic as his jacket began to singe. Reacting quickly, he teleported and Goku smirked as he saw this, spinning back and expecting to see the man there, but found nothing. Perplexed, the martial artist looked around when three pink energy balls crashed against his back, sending him hurtling through the air!

Catching himself, Goku smiled as he saw Steven flying toward him and sped toward the boy, teleporting haphazardly through the sky to test him. Steven saw through this and matched his speed, catching up at several points in the air and leaving sonic bursts behind them, appearing finally on the ground in the wasteland and locking fists, breaking apart the landscape and demolishing two nearby mountains in their wake!

Steven returned Goku's smug look and the older man laughed, returning to his base form. "Good going, Steven, good going."

"Hey, are you gonna show me your god form?" Steven asked.

"Nope."

"Oh, come on, I'm on par with your Super Saiyan form." Steven said, holding up his sleeve. "I mean look, I took your best attack without a scratch."

"You're pretty strong, stronger than most actually, but you're only on par with Super Saiyan 1." Goku turned to him. "You'd struggle with 2, 3 then there's –,"

"Wait, that wasn't Super Saiyan 2?"

"Nope."

"Well, you gotta show me more of your power then." Steven said.

"Hey, I'm tryna get you to learn how to control your energy, not to get as strong as I am." Goku chuckled. "And even if I was, we'd need a Time Chamber and it'd still take a while." He turned to Steven. "Just keep training and who knows, maybe one day you might even surpass me."

"Really?" Steven asked excitedly.

"Sure, I –,"

"Goku!" A disembodied male voice called out.

"Whis?" Goku asked, touched his temple.

"Goku, I'll need your assistance if you'd be so kind." The Angel said telepathically. "We've got a situation on our hands."

"I'm on it, Whis." Goku said, turning to Steven. "Sorry, Steven, I gotta run."

"Wait, where're ya going?" Steven asked.

"It's important and I have to return to earth." Goku said. "I guess this's goodbye for now."

"But, aren't you gonna train me anymore?"

"You've learned a lot these past few months Steven and you've mastered how to control your energy." Goku placed his hand on his shoulder. "I trained you so you could better handle your powers, not to get as strong as I am. You have a lot of potential; it's up to you now to figure out what to do with it."

Steven huffed. "Well, I hope we can meet again someday."

"You're not going back to earth?" Goku asked. "I thought you're from there? You don't have family or anything there?"

Steven hesitated. "I've got a few things to deal with first."

Goku looked at him curiously then smiled. "Well, see ya later, Steven." He touched his forehead with his index and middle fingers and vanished.

Steven stretched out as soon as he felt Goku's energy signature completely disappear and he walked to the edge of the hill they were on, sitting down and taking a breather. He looked out into the blue grassy valley of the monster-filled planet, still amazed at how some of the mountains in the area floated in the air while everything else seemed to obey the same laws of gravity as earth. He began to think about Connie and the others now that Goku had mentioned home, wondering what they'd been up to all these years. It was surprising that years had passed since he left and was a little worrying that he didn't feel the need to return to the Crystal Gems either.

He searched his mind for a moment, wondering what to do next or where to go when he felt someone tap his shoulder. "Hey, Steven."

Steven yelped and fell over at the sudden contact, shifting over to see an orange-skinned, red-haired woman with green eyes clad in a revealing purple suit bending over to him with a smile. "Oh, hey –," He coughed and deepened his voice. "Hey, Starfire."

"What're you doing all the way out on this abandoned planet?" Starfire stood up and looked around.

"Being an idiot as usual." Kevin Levin, a tall muscular man with black hair clad in dark clothing and heavy boots, walked passed them while looking at a handheld scanner.

"What in the world was that energy we sensed on the way here?" Gwen Tennyson, a red-haired woman wearing a long red coat over black trousers and boots followed after Kevin. "It felt like there was a star inside the planet."

"Oh yeah, I met this saiyan named Goku and he'd been training me here for a bit." Steven rose to his feet.

"You met a saiyan?" Kevin asked in disbelief.

"You're joking right? That race went extinct long ago." Gwen said. "Hell, I don't even believe they existed to begin with."

"No way, you actually met Goku?" Ben Tennyson, a brunette-haired man dressed in a green jacket, black shirt, blue jeans and sneakers with a large watch on his right arm, stepped out of space ship parked nearby. "Man, I'd have loved to meet the guy; he's one of the strongest beings in the multiverse."

"Ben!" Steven hugged him. "Man, it's been so long!" He pulled back and looked at him in surprise. "What happened to you?"

"Uh, you left us on Xandar a few months ago, remember?" Ben said. "Jeez, I forgot how forgetful you are sometimes."

"Oh, yeah." Steven said awkwardly. "I kinda got carried away training."

"Mmm, I've noticed." Starfire eyed Steven as she moved up to him. "Your energy's got a lot of weight behind it now, it's almost smothering."

"Uh," Steven blushed and laughed nervously.

"Guys, we've got a problem here." Gwen said, drawing the other's attention as she looked to the lower planes below. "I think we found it here as well."

"What is it?" Ben walked up to her then frowned as he saw what she was referring to, "The Moss."

Steven came up to the edge of the cliff and saw a large mass of Moss moving over the ground below, rapidly increasing in size and heading toward a city in the distance. "What is that?"

"They're a powerful, all-consuming bioweapon Plumber orbital surveillance picked up images of on multiple planets in this quadrant and we were sent along with others to eradicate it." Ben said.

"It destroys everything it comes in contact with and destroys the planet once it's done, and can't be detected with anything except visual confirmation." Kevin said. "It's the perfect weapon."

"You know who's behind this?" Steven asked.

"A distant planet called Home World." Starfire answered.

* * *

HEAT AND immense pain spread throughout Connie's body as the Moss swarmed all over her, eating away at her flesh and sapping her of her energy. She struggled as they tugged at her from all sides, trying desperately to grab Rose's sword on her back when she felt a sudden rush of air as the Moss fell apart, revealing Pearl who pulled her out of the entity that spread over the ground.

"Connie, are you alright?" Pearl asked, looking at the burns on the girl's body.

"No, I –," Connie tried to say when her suit suddenly reformed and her wounds slowly began to heal. "Well, I'm okay I guess." She chuckled in surprise.

"Seems Helio's science isn't entirely destructive." Pearl said, looking at a Bloodstone nearby as it pulled a gem woman out from a pile of rubble. "Though I can't say the same about his wife." She huffed as Jasper ripped a Mossling in half with her bare hands and slammed it into the earth, smashing it to bits as she broke a massive hole through the ground!

"I'll be more careful next time." Connie said, drawing her blade and running off.

Connie moved through a small street behind her, cutting down three Mosslings that tried to get in her way, and she came upon a house where more of the creatures gathered. She looked through the window of the small home, seeing three gems trembling inside as the monsters tore the walls down, and she held out her hand, channeling Gaia Energy out of her arm that spread out like a large vine. Drawing out the photonic whip, Connie lashed it against the ground, sending out a shockwave that launched the beasts into the air and she thrust her hand out at them, shooting the energy tube that split into smaller tendrils, piercing the Mosslings and incinerating them instantly!

Elsewhere in the town, Ruby chucked a fireball at a cluster of Moss that began to dig its way into the ground and dismantle the street, leaping at the entity with an electricity charged fist and punching the creature, smashing it to pieces. She looked around, seeing patches of Moss that spread all over nearby houses and remembering how the security outpost in space was destroyed earlier, quickly rising to her feet and failing to notice a large Mossling collecting behind her! The monster swung at her with a jagged arm too quickly for her to react when a transparent energy disc shot through its chest, ripping it apart!

Ruby turned as she heard the monster collapse behind her and smiled as she saw who it was that saved her. "Nalar!"

"Heh, sorry, my spells are a little weak." The ruby said as the magic circle in his hands fizzled out.

"Wait, shouldn't you be healing after what happened earlier?" Ruby asked.

"I'll be fine." Nalar said, grunting in pain and worrying the red woman.

Carnelian ran toward a Mossling nearby the two, screaming wildly as she held out her little spear and swung at the creature while it wasn't looking. She shut her eyes as the blade made contact with the monster, not realizing that it hadn't made a dent, and Nalar conjured a light disc inside the creature, causing it to fall apart. Carnelian opened her eyes and smiled as the Mossling lay dead at her feet, running off to attack another one across from her. Nalar chuckled and followed the small gem as she 'fought' more of the Moss and Ruby looked on in amusement, charmed by his kindness.

A Pearl clone rushed past Ruby however and clashed with a Mossling with its sword, hacking off the monster's arm and swiftly slashing it in half! The doppelganger looked to the sky to see the original Pearl floating above the town, conjuring a large spear in her hand. Looking out into a street before her, the pale woman took aim with her lance and hurled it down at a group of Mosslings that attacked homes below. The weapon split into a volley of smaller javelins and rained upon the monsters from above, erupting in explosions of light that burned them completely!

In front of the community building, Old Topaz cut down a Mossling with his photonic axe, panting as he stood up and looked at the small town become overrun with the monsters. He steeled himself, ready to fight another creature as it ran toward him when Jasper crashed onto it and blasted it with an energy beam from her hand, walking off the downed creature and moving up to the man.

"So, how're things looking out here?" She asked.

"These critters keep comin', but I've held 'em off for now." The old gem said almost breathless.

"You've gotta sit this one out, old man."

"I gotta defend this place; if I sit by, everyone inside will die."

"We've got this under control." Jasper said.

"Ya sure ya do? 'Cause the entire village's covered already." Old Topaz pointed at a building nearby completely covered in a mass of Moss.

Jasper growled. "These things are fucking weak, but they just keep coming." She cracked her knuckles. "But, we'll find a way to take 'em out for good, don't worry."

A bubbling sound interrupted them however and Jasper turned to see the Mossling she'd blasted on the ground slowly reform and turn red! She frowned as she saw this, realizing that all the Moss she and the others had taken down were coming back alive the same way, doubling the number of enemies they were facing! She unleashed her aura from her body and tried to fly off when she heard a loud explosion, looking back and seeing a wall of the community building collapse as a giant Mossling broke through!

She ran toward it, but tripped over as more of the entity wrapped around her leg, pulling her to the ground! She fired at it, freeing herself, but looked onward to see cracks all over the ground, realizing that the Moss had rooted itself beneath the town! "Shit."

Jasper heard screams from the community center behind her and she flew into the building, shooting a hole through the giant Mossling inside and looking to see the gems were unharmed. She rushed outside when she felt a tremor spread through the town, looking to her left and seeing a swathe of Moss hoist a house into the air and rip right through it, killing the gems inside! She frowned as she wondered what to do next and saw several Bloodstones nearby break apart as the green entity pierced into them as it seeped from the ground!

Jasper looked below her and saw a green liquid starting to rise from the ground as the Moss spread further. "Y'all need to get outta here!" Old Topaz said, hacking down a monster to his left.

"What? We're not leaving you like this." Jasper said.

"There's no saving this place anymore." Old Topaz said. "You can't get sucked into this village's problems."

"These things are weak, we can take them out."

"Jasper, look around, the village's overrun."

"No, we don't give up." Jasper unleashed her aura and prepared to fight when she saw several houses nearby collapse underground one by one, freezing in her tracks. Her face paled as the Mosslings began to collect and spread beneath the ground, swarming over Helio and Pearl who were nearby, completely immobilizing them.

"You have to get out while you still can." Old Topaz said. "You can't stop the Diamonds if you get caught up in all of this." Jasper thought this through.

In a street nearby, Pearl struggled as the liquid Moss began to pull her underground, nearly submerging her when a clone of hers grabbed her hand and pulled her out, letting her levitate in the air. She breathed heavily as she felt burns spread on her body and turned to see Helio getting sucked into the entity like she was, raising her arms and pulling him out telekinetically. She looked around as she held him up and saw Ruby and Nalar on the ground below.

"Ruby! Ruby, we need to get outta –," Pearl tried to say when the town split in half, moving Ruby and Nalar further away her!

Nalar and Ruby were knocked off their feet from the aftershock and Nalar panicked as he saw Carnelian holding onto a building frightfully. "Carnelian! Get back here, it's not safe!"

"N-no, I can still fight them!" She mustered, beginning to tear up as fear took over.

"Carnelian, listen to him! We can't take them on like this!" Ruby yelled.

Carnelian whimpered as she saw a house break down near her and she slowly nodded. "I'm coming!" She gulped, inching her way toward them as the ground started to tilt, making harder for her to move. Ruby got to her feet and ran toward the girl who reached out to her, slowly closing the distance when the Moss broke out from below Carnelian and wrapped around her!

"Carnelian!" Ruby cried, trying to shoot fire at the Moss when the earth snapped in half again, splitting them further apart.

Carnelian struggled against the pull of the Moss, trying to get to Ruby when the entity stabbed through her chest, drawing blood from her mouth! Nalar's body fell limp as he saw the little girl impaled, falling to his knees as her gemstone shattered and the Moss sucked her into the earth! Ruby panted as she looked around, seeing the town break down and fall into a widening abyss, separating her and Nalar from Pearl, Helio and Jasper who were on the other side!

* * *

SEVERAL PURPLE-skinned aliens ran about in a panic as a cluster of Moss moved through their city on the monster planet, fleeing for their lives as the entity began to root itself into the nearby buildings and raze them to the ground! A woman tripped as she fled and screamed in terror as a Mossling raised its arm to strike her down when a pink energy ball burst through the creature's chest, burning it to bits!

"Try to get somewhere safe, we've got this!" Steven yelled from above and flew into the fray, engaging the Mossling horde.

Running through a nearby street, Ben – who had transformed into Diamondhead – came up to a mass of Moss and slammed his fist against the ground, sending out a line of diamonds that pierced through the creature and broke it apart. He felt the earth rumble and turned to see a building collapsing, quickly running to the rescue when Gwen flew in and raised her hands into the air, holding up the edifice with telepathy! Chanting a spell, the sorceress summoned two photonic pillars beneath the structure that slowly put it back in an upright position and she cast another spell, binding the building together with magical energy.

Ben smiled as his cousin flew past and jerked as the road broke apart, looking to his left to Kevin who ripped a cluster of Moss out of the ground. Grabbing the entity, Kevin absorbed the creature's material and transformed into it, thrusting his arm up and forcing more Moss up to the surface, shattering it instantly! Focusing on the task at hand, Ben tapped on the large watch on his chest, transforming into XLR8 and sped off, dashing past Steven who cut down a Mossling with an energy axe.

Channeling his energy, Steven enlarged the lance and cast it forward, tearing through several Mosslings up ahead and guiding the weapon photokinetically. In a nearby street, Starfire descended to the ground with a twirl, sending out a wave of green plasma that hacked several beasts that were around her! Seeing Steven's javelin fly toward her, the orange woman grabbed the weapon and shoved it through the gravel below; creating an explosion that vaporized the green mass underground!

Steven moved up to Starfire. "You think that's all of them?"

"No; according to Plumber Intel, there should be a lot more of the bioweapon still lurking around." Star crossed her arms. "This battle could prove quite troublesome."

"Not for long." Gwen said as she hovered past them, her body glimmering as her aura rose.

Chanting a spell, Gwen wove her arms above her head and created a massive purple magic circle above the city, creating a vacuum like pull that began to draw in the Moss below! The ground shook violently and Steven, Starfire, Kevin and Ben looked around in surprise as the green entity was sucked up into the air and collected around the light disc, getting bound to it and electrocuted as they made contact!

"I'm gonna need some help here!" Gwen struggled as her energy began to wane.

"I got it!" Steven shot into the air.

Charging energy into his palm, Steven forged an energy ball that quickly expanded in size and he chucked it at the green mass in the air, immediately creating a force field above him and the others! Gwen looked at him curiously when the energy ball collided with the Moss and erupted in a massive explosion that caused gale force winds that nearly knocked her back despite being behind the barrier! Moving her hands away as the blast dispersed, the red-haired girl looked on in amazement as the Moss was completely destroyed, descending to the ground.

"So, was that all of 'em?" Steven asked.

"No, more are on their way." Gwen said.

"Really? Oh, come on!" Steven followed her.

"Wow, Steven, that was amazing!" Starfire looked at the smoke in the sky above.

"Heh, nah, it was nothing." Steven rubbed the back of his neck shyly.

"What do you mean there's still more of this junk? Didn't you draw it all up from the ground?" Kevin asked.

"The Moss are capable of regeneration, though I'm not sure to what extent." Gwen said. "I think the only way we can stop this as it the source."

"You want us to go to Home World?" Ben pocketed his hands. "That's a little ballsy, even the Lantern Corp are afraid of setting foot there."

"I'm sensing an immense energy signature on this planet." Gwen said, looking to the valley to her right. "And I think it might be the source of the Moss."

* * *

CONNIE BREATHED heavily as she pulled herself up to the top of the hill, looking up and sighing in relief as Pearl offered her a hand from above. Taking her hand, the girl was pulled upward and she turned to the Slave Village in the distance behind them, her heart sinking as she saw the small town fall apart as the Moss completely swallowed it and the gems in it underground! She looked to Pearl, Helio and Jasper who were on the hill with her, the latter who sat by herself in silence, and she began to panic.

"Wait, where's Ruby?" Connie asked.

"We got separated from them, but she was with Nalar the last time I saw her." Pearl said, huffing. "This's a disaster."

"Not looking into the Moss when they were being developed by the Diamonds was a total oversight on my part." Helio crossed his arms. "Pink Diamond was at the head of the experiments and she wasn't as successful a scientist as White Diamond, so I didn't think she'd pull this off. Now that it's been awakened along with Black Diamond, our problems just got far worse."

"Who is Black Diamond exactly?" Connie asked.

"He's the first gem with an artificial intelligence and is more powerful than most gem commanders, though still weaker than the Diamonds themselves." Helio explained. "When colonization of a planet fails or the Diamonds deem its resources or inhabitants worthless, they send him to simply destroy the planet and move on."

"So, the Diamonds want to destroy Home World?"

"I'm not sure, but we do know that they want to wipe the slate clean of any gems they see unfit to live, so they've awakened the Moss." Helio said.

"We need to come up with a plan." Pearl turned to him. "We can't let more gems get killed off like this."

"But how can we stop this? We don't know where the others are and we have no idea how to actually take out the Moss." Connie said.

"There's no point in trying to stop the Moss." Jasper finally spoke.

"What? But they're murdering gems." Pearl frowned.

"The Diamonds intercepted our plans before they even began and have taken out the armies I had posted off-world before I could bring them back together. We've lost this fight." Jasper said.

"So we should just give up?"

"No, but Helio and I are leaving this planet." Jasper rose to her feet, revealing Blood Quartz whom she held in her arms, and she pressed a button on her gauntlet, activating a space suit that covered her from head to toe.

"Wait, where're you going?" Pearl asked.

"To get more power." Jasper said as she walked off and activated Blood's space suit. "We'll meet up again at the center of Region Pink when we're done."

"Wait, what're you talking about?" Pearl asked, raising her brow as Helio donned his own suit and shot into the air, following Jasper who'd flown off. "Hey, wait!" She called out, but the two gems had already gone.

"Did they just ditch us here?" Connie squinted as the two disappeared into the sky.

"I don't know, but we'll stick to the plan." Pearl said, descending down the side of the hill. "Follow me."

"What's at the center of Region Pink exactly?" Connie quickly followed her.

"The home of Pink Diamond, my former master."

* * *

TRUNKS CAREFULLY navigated his ship as he and Goten drew closer to Home World, his mind whirring with thoughts as he tried to think of how they should approach their mission. From the rumors he'd heard, the Diamonds were not beings you'd want to cross paths with and if they had Kale and Caulifla, he wondered how they'd make it out alive. Fear quickly took hold of him as he remembered the stories he'd heard from Thor back at Avengers Headquarters, of how they'd come across Thanos years ago and fought him to a stalemate and how they'd taken out other cosmic invaders in the past.

He tried to calm himself when Goten interrupted his thoughts. "I'm bored!" The raven-haired man beside him groaned.

"Hey, I'm trying to focus here!" Trunks yelled at him. "Do you realize that we might end up facing one of the biggest threats in the known universe if we screw this up?"

"Yeah, yeah, something about some giant bitches or some shit, who cares."

"The Diamonds managed to go toe to toe with Thanos! If we mess this up, we're dead." Trunks said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, man."

"You know, these past few months, all you've done is just sit around listening to music, eat trash and doing nothing to aid the mission." Trunks put the ship on autopilot.

"Well, how am I gonna help? I don't know how this ship works anyway." Goten sat back.

"You could at least clean up once in a while or help navigate the ship; you went through flight school just like I did."

"Well, you're doing a good job if you ask me; I don't see what else I can do." Goten shrugged.

"Y'know what, I –," Trunks tried to say when Jasper and Helio flew past their ship, causing it to swerve out of control!

"What the?!" Goten yelled as he fell off his seat.

"Something just went past us!" Trunks took the controls and stabilized the ship, looking at the radar in amazement as it tracked Jasper and Helio leaving the star system. "What the hell was moving that fast?"

"Uh, Trunks …" Goten pointed outside.

Trunks raised his head and immediately froze in surprise as he saw the debris of the security outposts floating around Home World. He slowed the ship down and maneuvered through the maze of carnage, stunned as torn apart and burned body parts drifted past them. He checked the ship's computers and became more unnerved as he saw that it detected Kale and Caulifla's energy signatures on the planet's surface.

"What happened here?" Goten asked.

"I don't know, but we're here." Trunks said. "This's Home World."

"But, didn't you say the Diamonds were super powerful? Who wrecked the place like this?"

"How would I know?" Trunks huffed. "Let's make our descent."

Trunks ignited the ship's thrusters and entered the planet's atmosphere, steeling himself for what horrors he might witness when he landed when he saw a massive beautiful city in the distance. The white and chrome futuristic metropolis shone in the middle of a beautiful valley, literally glimmering against the aurora sky lit by two suns. The sight completely caught him off-guard, but he remained apprehensive, setting the ship in the middle of a small forest far from the city to shroud their arrival.

Goten smiled as he saw small six-winged birds and furry creatures scamper about as they landed and quickly rose to his feet and headed for the door as Trunks shut off the engines. "Where're you going?" The purple-haired man asked.

"I'm gonna check the area out." Goten said.

"No, you're staying here." Trunks got up. "I'm taking recon, so you watch the ship."

"Aw, what?" Goten whined.

"We can't have our only way home destroyed, so you keep watch while I try to figure out a way to get into the city." Trunks strapped on a gauntlet on his left arm. "Kale and Caulifla are in that city, so I'll try to find an entry point then we sneak in and get them out before we get spotted, so keep watch."

"Fine." Goten frowned and headed into the cockpit as Trunks opened the vessel's doors and leapt out.

Goten grumbled to himself as he took his seat and watched as Trunks flew through the forest, leaving him alone inside the vessel. He hummed to himself and looked around, immediately regretting leaving his laptop behind and missing the internet as his phone couldn't pick up a signal this far from earth. Five minutes passed and he quickly got bored, grabbing his phone and drifting away to his favorite songs.

As he sat back and bobbed his head to the music however, he failed to see a white-robed guard fly passed the windshield and only jerked up when the gem blasted a hole into the hull of the ship! "Hey, what're you –," Goten turned around and immediately ducked as the gem woman fired a laser from her spear and blew up the cockpit, causing the ship to erupt into flames!

Trunks stopped in his tracks and turned to see a massive fire in the trees where he'd left Goten. "What the hell?" He quickly flew back to the ship.

Goten squinted through the fires and jumped out of the way as another guard shoved a spear at him, quickly grabbing the staff and punching him in the gut, sending him flying out of the vessel. Rising into the air, Goten looked around and panicked as the ship was in pieces and screamed in pain as a larger ship fired at him from above, driving him into the earth!

Goten tumbled on the ground and rolled to a stop, looking up to see several white-robed gems rushing at him with two large ships behind them. "Well, Trunks' gonna be mad."

Goten engaged the attackers, kicking two aside swiftly and firing a ki blast at three others up ahead, causing an explosion that knocked several more behind them off their feet! He smirked and bounced in place, dismissing his enemies when a large six-legged beast bashed him from behind, sending him flying through a tree! The rider raised her arm and summoned more creatures from the forest, surrounding the saiyan from all sides.

Goten looked around in a panic, wondering what to do next as nearly 50 guards and beasts and a ship above immediately swarmed around him and blocked his means of escape. "Final Flash!" Trunks yelled and unleashed a massive blast of energy that blazed through half of the attackers, revealing himself as he rushed toward Goten in his Super Saiyan form. "What the hell did you do?"

"I don't know, they just came outta nowhere!" Goten said as he got to his feet.

"You weren't keeping watch, were you?"

"Is this really the time to start lecturing me?" Goten snapped at him then frowned as the gems that were hit quickly healed their wounds. "This's bad."

"If we fight them, we'll draw more attention to ourselves and if we just escape, the entire city will be on alert if they aren't already." Trunks said.

"What do we do then?"

Trunks sifted his mind when a massive portal opened beneath them and began rapidly sucking the gems and beasts into it, nearly pulling him and Goten along with them! The two saiyans quickly ascended into the air and watched in awe as the gateway swallowed their enemies and vanished, leaving the forest immediately quiet as it was before the attack. They looked at each other in surprise when a purple van flew toward them, confusing them as they heard people inside quarrelling.

"Why'd you use the portal generator? You used up a huge chunk of the ship's power!" A female voice yelled.

"Well, we wanted to help them right? What else was I supposed to do?" A man responded.

"You were supposed to sit back and let me handle it! For crying out loud, it's like dealing with an infant!"

"Hey, you should respect your elders, young lady."

"I am much older than you, human!" The girl snapped back.

"Huh?"

The girl groaned and opened the door. "Hey, you two need a ride? The human says you're most likely friendlies." Peridot said.

"Don't worry, I'm a Plumber!" Greg called out from inside the vehicle.

Trunks and Goten looked at each other curiously.

* * *

LOUD CRASHES and bubbling sounds emanated from a massive abyss on the monster planet that stretched out for several meters, a pit so wide that the bottom was invisible to Steven as he looked into it. Frowning as the noises continued to echo; he stepped back and turned to Gwen. "Is this where the energy signature you were talking about is?"

"Yes." Gwen said.

"What the hell is even down there?" Ben chucked a rock into the hole, listening for it to hit the bottom.

"Yeah, and what exactly dug this all up?" Kevin looked around at the huge mounds of rock and soil that lay around the pit.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's very powerful." Gwen answered.

Ben squinted, surprise spreading on his face. "It still hasn't hit the bottom."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to find out what's down there." Steven said, immediately jumping down.

At the bottom of the abyss, several Mosslings clawed against the rock frantically, tirelessly digging further and further underground as they headed for the planet's core. A few feet above them was a dark being with pure black skin that hovered above them, his eyes set below at his underlings as they followed his psychic orders. He was Black Diamond.

* * *

There ya go, chapter 2! Sorry I took so long to update, I got really sick and some other stuff came up that kept me from writing anything for a while.

If you're enjoying the story so far, check out our Deviantart page or Tumblr page (/realdoneuniverse) for our character designs for Steven and Connie as well as other character designs for previous books! Be sure to follow so you don't miss any more designs and follow this book so you don't miss any new chapters when we update.

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Thanks for reading and await our next chapter 'New Gems'. See ya next time.


	3. New Gems

**New Gems**

THE TWO suns slowly set on the capital of Region White, the bustling city not dropping a beat as its streets were lively as ever, only changing into a medley of color as the city lights came on. The tour of the science facility Sapphire and Lapis were in slowly came to a close, the two women lagging behind as the visitors took their leave and taking a last look around the building.

"This's a bad idea." Sapphire said to Lapis telepathically. "If we let one of our thoughts slip out, we'll get spotted and surrounded."

"We have to find out what else White Diamond is up to." Lapis replied. "Jasper's armies are gone and the last thing we want is to get caught off-guard by another one of the Diamond's secret weapons."

Sapphire paused for a bit. "So how do we do this?"

"Neither of us can create clones like Pearl, so we have to get away from the tour group ourselves." Lapis said and then glanced around. "How good are you at shape-shifting?"

"You read my mind." Sapphire smiled.

Making sure the hovering screen was nowhere nearby, the two gems squeezed their way to the center of the tour group so they were surrounded, all the while shrinking their height until they were half as tall. Once they were completely shrouded amongst the others, they transformed into small pools of water and maneuvered their way between the other gems' feet, leaving the room they were in.

Lapis and Sapphire made their way into a nearby corridor, the latter shape-shifting back into her normal state, and Lapis moved her way up the walls, placing several small black balls along the ceiling. Sapphire looked on curiously as Lapis turned back to her original form and she looked to the devices above as lights flickered from them.

"What're those?"

"I don't know how they work exactly, but they're scramblers made by Helio that put security cameras through loops so we aren't spotted." Lapis said.

"Well, it's a good thing they didn't upgrade them these past three years." Sapphire said.

"Come on, let's try and search this place quickly; they'll figure out something's wrong eventually."

With that, the two raced around the halls, glancing from room to room with X-Ray vision and seeing nothing of note except for gems being fitted with robotic limbs. It began to puzzle Lapis the more she thought about it: why would the Diamonds fit gems with cybernetic enhancements when they have high-level regeneration and affinity for magic? Her thoughts were cut short when they came across a room emitting a powerful energy signature and were unable to see through its walls.

Sapphire moved up to the door and placed her hand on it, sensing a sealing spell on it and slowly unlocking it. Breaking the seal, she looked to Lapis and received a nod from her, hesitantly pressing a button adjacent to the door and waiting for it to slide open. The two looked into the room and saw a large round assembly room with several platforms that descended to a floor where multiple large glass pods were lined up before a massive screen.

The two looked at the white-robed Agates that roamed the room and transformed to look like them, moving to the lower floors to get a better look at what was going on while keeping a safe distance.

"So, this's the last week till we stop production of organic gems, huh?" One Agate said to another. "I wonder if we'll get assigned to the AI gem assembly line or somewhere else."

"Ah, I don't give a fuck honestly." The gem next to him stretched out. "Anywhere without the damn annoying shrieks of pain is fine with me."

Sapphire raised her brow upon overhearing them and a large door to her right swung open and from it came several tall Topazes that dragged red-skinned goblins with flaming hair by chains and led them toward the pods. The goblins lashed out in anger, desperately trying to break free and the Topazes shocked them with electric rods, forcing them one by one into the pods lined up at the center of the room.

Metal harnesses bound the goblins as the glass chambers activated and small robotic hands carrying gemstones materialized from the outer casing, drawing closer to the creatures. The pods scanned the goblins and the automated hands shoved the gemstones into their bodies, drawing screams of pain as the crystals burrowed their way into their flesh! Sapphire frowned as she saw the goblins thrash about in pain; her curiosity rising as a blue liquid slowly filled containment units, completely submerging the captives within.

The screams and rumbling slowly died down as the liquid covered them and Lapis watched closely, failing to see what was going on inside. A short silence fell when the pods suddenly flew open, releasing thick clouds of steam as the goblins slowly sat up, each disoriented as they looked around. Sapphire stepped back in horror as she saw that they had been completely transformed into Carnelians, a fact they slowly realized themselves as they felt a pulsation from the gemstones permanently embedded in their bodies!

The new gems began to panic when tubes shot out from the pods they sat in and pierced into the back of their necks, instantly throwing them into a trance-like state as they looked to the large screen at the end of the room. The display came on, drawing Lapis and Sapphire's attention to a video of Blue Diamond, the goddess' face immediately sending shivers up Sapphire's spine as she looked downward condescendingly, almost as if she could see her.

"Welcome my children to your new home. I am Blue Diamond, the god of this world, but you will refer to me now as Mother." Blue Diamond began. "Your lives have been elevated from a futile aimless existence to one of ultimate purpose, to serve me and my sisters, the Diamonds."

* * *

STEVEN SKIDDED along the side of the abyss and came to a stop, dusting his hands and looking downward, still not seeing the bottom. He huffed and prepared to move along when Kevin crashed down on a rock on a wall opposite from him and Gwen, Starfire and Ben, who had turned into Jetray, flew down toward them.

"Hey, what took you guys so long?" Steven asked.

"Well, unlike you, we tried to assess what we were getting into before blindly diving into a pitch black abyss." Kevin said.

"The energy I'd sensed before is getting weaker, so wherever it's coming from must be going further underground." Gwen said.

"That's good then; if the signal gets stronger, then we're close to our target." Jetray said, descending further.

"Wait …" Starfire said. "Does anyone else hear something?"

Steven and the others fell silent as they tried to listen when tremors rippled through the pit's walls, drawing their attention downward where an orange light grew brighter and brighter! "What is that?" Jetray raised his brow.

"Get back!" Gwen cried as a pillar of lava burst from beneath them and shot to the surface above! Ben quickly transformed into Heatblast and manipulated the rocks around him, creating a protective cocoon around him, Gwen and Kevin. Gwen looked around. "Where're Steven and Starfire?"

"The must be on the other side of the blast." Heatblast said.

The cocoon rumbled and Kevin looked down to see the rocks slowly burn, quickly placing his hands on the wall behind him and absorbing it. "Follow me!" He tore a hole into the wall and created a tunnel, leading the two through and sealing it behind them.

On the other side of the blast, Steven struggled against the heat and rush of the lava geyser as he tried to keep his light shield up. Starfire reacted quickly and blew a hole into the wall behind her, grabbing Steven and tossing him into the tunnel, causing his shield to drop. She took hold of the roof of the tunnel and pulled the rocks down; causing a landslide that sealed the lava on the side.

"Well, looks like we're on our own on this one." Steven got to his feet and dusted himself off.

"Yeah, Starfire huffed and landed on the ground. "I can still sense the others so at least we know they're fine." She turned to him. "We should be careful with how we proceed from here, if we make a wrong turn, we could cause more lava to spew out."

"The Moss must've made it to the planet's core already then."

"Then we have to hurry." Starfire walked off.

Steven followed the Tamaranean through the cave, hearing the lava ejection slowly die down behind them, and tried to think of where to start digging from when he saw a green liquid rise around his feet. "What the?"

Before he could react, the liquid quickly spread around his leg and began to engulf his body! Starfire tried to come to his aid when a Mossling emerged behind her and grabbed her by the neck, driving her into the ground below! The woman threw the creature off her and incinerated it with an energy blast, rising into the air when three more Mosslings massed around her!

Steven unleashed his aura and burned the liquid off him, charging energy through his fist and punching the ground below, causing it to break apart and sending him and Starfire into a free fall! Starfire blasted the creatures off her and looked down to see a gigantic swarm off Mosslings climbing their way up the abyss toward them!

Steven raised his hand above his head and channeled an energy ball in his palm, chucking the sphere down which split into a volley of blasts that rained on the monsters below, burning them in a series of blasts that dug further into the ground! Slapping her hands together, Starfire fired a green photon beam at the remaining Mosslings, giving the finishing blow and burning them all to bits!

Steven and Starfire landed at the bottom of the hole they dug and found themselves in pitch-blackness. Forging another light orb in his hands, the gem-human lit their way and turned to the Tamaranean. "The signature seems stronger here."

"You've gotten so strong these past few months, Steven." Starfire walked up to him. "I bet we could take out hostile aliens easily with you on the team again."

"Yeah, I guess." He said. "I dunno if I'm gonna join back with you guys again though."

"What if I want you back?" Starfire placed a hand on his cheek.

"Uh, well –,"

Starfire pressed her lips against his and cut him off, holding his face with both hands and pressing her body against his as she moved closer to him. She pulled back while biting his lower lip, seeing the surprised look on his face and she smiled at him. "If you want to leave, I won't stop you." Starfire floated away, leaving the room. "It's your choice." Steven watched her leave and sifted his mind, not noticing the pieces of Moss slowly reforming behind them.

Elsewhere in the underground, a massive explosion ripped through a wall of the abyss, sending Gwen, Kevin and Feedback crashing hard on the ground and skidding to a stop. "Ben, what the fuck was that?" Kevin growled as he got up.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know how much energy the Moss had absorbed before we fought them?" Feedback said.

"The point was to take them out quickly without drawing attention to ourselves? What if we ended up drawing Black Diamond's attention or ended up destabilizing the planet's core even more!?" Kevin yelled.

"Look, I was just –,"

"Uh, guys." Gwen said, drawing their attention to a large hole she stood before.

Ben and Kevin moved up to her and grew apprehensive as they saw Black Diamond below watching a group of Mosslings digging through molten lava. "I guess he hasn't noticed us yet." Kevin said.

"They're trying to get to the core, probably to absorb its energy." Gwen said. "How do we do this, Ben?" She looked to the brunette-haired man who remained silent.

* * *

"OKAY, SO let me get this straight." Trunks said as he roamed the RV he, Goten, Greg and Peridot were in as it flew in cloaking and on autopilot. "You're part of a group of Home World rebels called the Crystal Gems who're trying to fight the Diamonds and free your people, and you're a retired plumber."

"Not a regular plumber." Greg said.

"Right." Trunks stroked his chin. "Why're you called Crystal Gems?"

"Sounds like some Sailor Moon shit." Goten sat back by a window seat.

"Hey, that was a good show." Greg said, getting an eye-roll from Goten.

"Look, going head on against the Diamonds is suicide." Trunks said.

"We don't have a choice now, this's our last chance or it's all over." Peridot said. "The Diamonds have taken so much from us and our kind; we can't just let them get away with this."

"Well, what's your plan exactly? Do you have an army? Are you being backed by the Nova Corp or something?" Trunks asked.

Peridot huffed. "Our armies got wiped out before we arrived here and we don't know where our partners are."

Trunks frowned in disbelief and Goten scoffed. "Well, you're all fucked."

"Okay, let me think." Trunks paced for a bit. "Okay, we're on a mission to save two saiyan women who're being held in that city over there, so how's about we join forces? You help us maneuver this place since you know more about it than we do and we offer our strength in a fight until we find the women."

"Wait, you want to get in that city?" Peridot looked out the window. "That's the home of White Diamond; you'll die if you get caught."

Goten burst into laughter. "This shit's crazy, man."

Trunks huffed. "Well, I guess we're gonna have to take the risk."

"Wait, what? No, no, I'm not risking my life for some girls; you're on your own." Goten said.

"This isn't just about some girls; this's about fulfilling the mission and helping where we can." Trunks said. "We're Avengers and saving lives is what it's –,"

"Whoa, whoa, look, I just joined 'cause bitches love superheroes – I'm not gonna die fighting some galactic goddess."

"I thought you didn't care about the Diamonds before." Trunks said.

"Dude, you can literally feel her energy all the way from here! That's probably higher than my dad and last time we checked, we couldn't keep up with him while sparring – hell, we can't even match your dad."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Trunks frowned.

"Alright, alright, we'll help you with this." Peridot said. "As much as I don't want to get anywhere near a Diamond right now, we don't know where the others are and if they're in Region White, we should find out."

"Thank you." Trunks smiled then turned to Goten. "Come on, man, are you really gonna back out at the last second?"

Goten thought for a bit then huffed. "Alright, fuck it, let's do this."

* * *

BIG CHILL phased through a wall and hovered above Black Diamond and his horde of Mosslings, looking closely as they continued to dig up lava that bubbled beneath the rocks. "We're gonna have to separate Black Diamond from his horde before we strike; we don't know how strong he is exactly and the Moss will only get in the way." Big Chill said via an earpiece.

"And how do we do that?" Kevin asked on the other end.

"Follow my lead and cover me." Big Chill said, tapping his watch and transforming into Way Big and crashing onto Black Diamond with a punch!

"That idiot." Gwen frowned.

Way Big stood up and threw a kick at Black Diamond when the Diamond blocked his leg, stopping him in his tracks! "What the!?" Way Big backed up in shock.

A dark shadow erupted from Black Diamond and shot up to Way Big's face, washing over him and burning his entire body, forcing him to the ground! The Moss saw this and rushed toward Way Big when a wall of earth shot up around the giant alien, blocking their path. Jumping into the pit, Kevin and Gwen came to Way Big's aid with Kevin engaging the Mosslings and Gwen summoning a spell to attack Black Diamond from behind.

Gwen shot a wave of fire at Black Diamond and he teleported away, summoning Moss from beneath the ground to bind Way Big and more to wrap around Gwen's legs and yank her to the ground. The Diamond reappeared at the pool of lava and released a green liquid from his palms, creating more Mosslings that quickly returned to digging. Ben transformed into Goop and tried to escape the Moss, but immediately was surrounded again by the green entity that slowly began tearing into the Omnitrix!

Black Diamond watched as his minions dug further and he backed away as an earthquake ripped through the pit, sending a massive crack that split the area in half and caused more lava to spew to the surface! The shaking knocked Kevin off his feet, leaving him open for the monsters to swarm over him and tried to beak way, seeing Gwen completely covered from head to toe and nearly submerged into the ground!

The Moss slowly absorbed the three plumbers, sapping them off their energy when Steven burst through the roof and tackled Black Diamond, digging him further into the earth and breaking a hole through the floor, driving him further underground! Following soon after, Starfire flew into the center of the room and unleashed a blast of energy from her body that tore through the Moss throughout the room, allowing Kevin, Gwen and Ben to break out.

Ben quickly transformed into Big Chill as he freed himself and he released a breath of ice at the lava that was spewing out, cooling it instantly! "Black Diamond just reached the planet's core!" Big Chill said. "If we don't stabilize it, the planet will die."

"I'm on it." Starfire shot through the ground and came up to the gigantic molten core which burned several feet away from her, raising her hand and channeling energy through it. "Alright, try not to blow up on me."

* * *

GREG LOOKED across the street and watched three white-robed gem guards moving down a sidewalk in the Region White capital, quickly looking away to avoid behind noticed as he walked alongside Trunks, Goten and Peridot. "Yup, they're patrolling the streets."

"Yeah, no shit, this's the home of a Diamond; security's always high." Peridot said.

"In that case, why don't we just skip sneaking around and just fight these guys." Goten said, tugging at the new robes he wore. "I freaking hate these clothes."

"Have you been listening to anything we've been talking about these past few hours?" Trunks asked.

"Nope."

"You fucking –,"

"Are you sure these disguises will fool the gems in this city?" Greg asked Peridot as he touched the false gemstone on his palm.

"Yes, how do you think we're able to walk around in the open like this?" Peridot asked then frowned. "Wait, why're you asking me this?"

"Just wait up for me."

"What're you doing?" Peridot asked as Greg crossed the street.

Peridot tried her hardest not to scream as Greg went to the three guards and started talking to them, biting her tongue as he led them into a nearby alleyway. She squinted as she couldn't see what was going on and a few moments later, Greg reemerged and went down the street nonchalantly, rejoining her and the two saiyans at a small bridge down the street.

"What the hell did you just do?" Peridot asked.

"I took out the guards and stole one of their holo-maps of the city." Greg said, holding two gemstones on one hand and a blue disc in the other.

"Whoa, you beat them down that quickly?" Goten asked.

"Hell no, I wouldn't stand a chance in a fight." Greg pocketed the gemstones and discreetly showed them a gun holstered in his jacket. "The Plumbers figured out a way to short out gemstones long ago, although it's still hard to find them and get to them during a fight – luckily those guards had them on their chests or I'd be dead right now."

Peridot looked at Greg in surprise as he laughed then she smiled at him. "I guess I underestimated you, Greg; that was impressive."

"Like I told you, respect your elders." Greg walked off.

"I'm older than you!" Peridot yelled.

"Hey, you want us to get caught? Keep it down." Greg said, infuriating the girl.

* * *

NALAR LOOKED across a small desert a few kilometers from the Slave Village that was now underground as he walked beside Ruby, having a hard time seeing through other light spectrums as his energy waned. He hid this from Ruby however as they went on, quietly sensing the dread and confusion in the red woman as she had remained silent for a while.

Hesitantly, he finally spoke. "Are you alright?"

"How am I supposed to be alright? All those people died and I couldn't do anything to stop it." Ruby huffed. "We couldn't even help Carnelian."

"Well, we can't cry every time we fail." Nalar chuckled. "Otherwise we'd be crying all day."

"How can you say that?" Ruby growled at him.

"What? We're rubies! We fail and fail and keep pretending we can do shit and guess what? We can't."

"What's wrong with you?! Everyone in the village just died and you're trying to joke about it."

"Yeah, yeah, who freaking –," Nalar tried to say when he fell over.

"Whoa, what happened?" She came to his side.

"No, no, I'm fine." He said. "I just tripped."

"You keep falling every few steps." Ruby frowned. "What're you hiding from me? You're not wounded, but you can barely walk."

"I told you I'm fine." Nalar said when electricity sputtered out of his body, causing him to buckle and cough out a lot of blood!

"Nalar!" She knelt beside him, seeing him shudder and fall over. "Nalar, what's wrong?"

"I'm fine, I –," Nalar sighed. "Who am I fooling?"

"What happened to you?" Ruby said. "Your energy level's low even for a ruby, you're weirdly light for your size and now this."

Nalar frowned and wiped the blood from his mouth. "Well, it looks like I don't have much time left after all."

"What do you mean?"

"Just try not to freak out." Nalar hissed in pain and slowly pulled his eye-patch back, revealing a hole beneath that held the remaining bits of a shattered gemstone!

"What the hell?!" Ruby backed up, nearly falling over in shock.

"I was shattered a few years ago and I guess my timer's running out." Nalar said. "I'm gonna need your help."

* * *

SAPPHIRE AND Lapis, still disguised as Agates, stepped out of the gemification lab and into the hallway, the Diamond running her hand through her hair as she finally learned how gems were created. She now realized what the Crystal Gems had probably gone through, how their lives were taken away from them, how she could never understand their suffering. Questions soon flooded through her mind, among them being who the Crystal Gems were before the Diamonds turned them into gems.

Her thoughts were cut short when an Agate called to them. "Hey, you two, we need extra hands to log in the new gems in lab three!"

"W-we're on it." Lapis answered, looking to Sapphire to make sure she was okay, and she followed the Agate.

The two blue women followed the gem handler down the halls into a Gemification Lab on another floor, wondering what was going on as it had much larger doors than the one they came from. They entered the room, seeing it as merely a larger assembly room when their attention was taken by a massive glass ball full of water that hovered in the ceiling with many tubes that were connected to glass pods that held gems inside. They were curious as to what was going on when Lapis recognized the gems that were inside!

"Alright, let's wrap this up and take these Lazulis to programming." The lead Agate in the facility said. "Once they're operational, we can begin wide scale terraformation of planets in the next solar system."

* * *

There ya have it, chapter 3! Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed it, check out our Deviantart or Tumblr (/realdoneuniverse) to see our character designs for this book.

Don't forget to follow so you don't miss the next chapter "Black Diamond", see ya next time.


	4. Rubytopia

** Rubytopia**

RUBY'S HEART pounded in her chest as she looked at the pieces of shattered gemstone in Nalar's eye socket and she searched her mind, trying to compose herself. "H-how? How did this happen? You're not supposed to be alive without a gemstone."

Nalar chuckled weakly. "A few years ago while I was under Pink Diamond's command, the rubies in our squad and I were sent on a mission to take out rebel gems that were hiding outside the main city whom we were told were remnants of the Crystal Gems. We succeeded and killed many gems, but over time, I began to realize that they were increasingly weaker than us and some didn't even put up a fight." He sat up, trying and failing to heal his wounds. "I did some digging and soon discovered that Pink and the other Diamonds were having us kill off weak gems they had cast aside from all around Home World, soldier and civilian alike. They deemed them unworthy of living because of how weak they were and thought that if they just killed them, they could absorb their energy and use it to power their new creations, though I never found out what they were."

"So, you tried to rebel against her …" Ruby realized.

"Nobody would believe me, they believed everything a Diamond said and I couldn't stand by, even if I was alone." Nalar huffed. "But I never stood a chance; she took me out in seconds and just like other gems deemed unworthy, my squad and I were cast aside to the Slave Village. Some of the rubies realized I was telling the truth and we banded together to be the last line of defense for when Pink Diamond would send more gems to take us out, but we never knew about the Moss until it was too late."

Nalar laughed. "I was never strong, even among the rubies, I was a failure; a waste of a soldier. I hoped every day that I'd have the power to stand out, something to show that I was just as good as the others, but then the power I discovered was a mutation that allowed me to live longer than anyone else just so I could watch my friends die while I did nothing. I'm worthless."

"That's for you to decide." Ruby said, moving up to him. "We're not as strong as the Diamonds want us to be, but we're as strong as we need to. We choose how to live our lives, not them." She held her hand out to him. "I'm not gonna let you die here."

"You don't even know me."

"Yeah, but I'm gonna help you anyway." Ruby helped him stand. "Now, come on, I bet we can find a way to fix this."

He laughed softly. "I guess I can give it one more try …" He stepped away from her and walked on his own though limping. "There's an old friend of mine called Sphalerite who lives near here; she's a mage of sorts who always talked about trying to find a way to free us from our gemstones. If anyone can help me, it's her."

"Then let's go find her." Ruby draped his arm over her shoulder and helped him walk onward. Nalar looked at her in confusion then smiled softly, letting her help him as they continued through the desert.

* * *

EXPLOSIONS RIPPED through the roof of a cave and through the rocks came Steven who flung Black Diamond into the earth, ripping a hole into the ground apart! The Diamond punched Steven off him and slammed his hand against the earth, spreading his shadow throughout the tunnel and shrouding it in darkness! Steven's eyes glowed and he looked through the pitch black, confused as the Diamond completely disappeared when a dark hand grabbed his neck from behind and dragged him into the ground!

Steven fought against the pull when Black Diamond reformed before him and grabbed his face, spreading his darkness over him and draining his energy! He felt his body wane as he lost control, his arms falling limp at his side, when a sword made of light impaled Black Diamond from behind, causing his shadows to instantly disappear and forcing him to let go of Steven! The Diamond yanked the weapon out of his chest and turned to see Gwen and Ben stepping out of a portal, the redheaded sorceress waving her arms in an arc and summoning three magical crystals that floated around her.

"We've gotta be careful here." Gwen summoned her spell book beside her. "If his shadows get a hold of you, he'll absorb all your energy."

"Yeah, I learned the hard way." Steven slowly got to his feet.

"Well, I guess we've gotta be a little more tactful here." Ben said, scrolling through the aliens in his watch.

Gwen thrust her hand forward and the light crystals released a powerful light throughout the tunnel, causing Black Diamond to withdraw in pain. Reacting quickly, the black humanoid send his shadows out at the sorceress when Steven blasted him with a photon beam from behind, driving him into the earth. Summoning a light shield, he rushed at the Diamond when a shadow wave washed over him and drove him through a nearby wall, blasting him out of the room!

Gwen erected a magical shield before her and the crystals, holding the shadows off on the other side! She struggled against the force when a strip of Moss burst out of the ground, tearing right through two of the crystals, dimming the light that weakened Black Diamond! The Moss spread toward the last crystal, ready to destroy it as well when Diamondhead grabbed the stone and absorbed it, turning his whole body white and causing him to blaze with energy!

"Ha, perfect!" The alien clenched his fist.

Charging forward, Diamondhead shot out large crystals from his palms that impaled into the ground and released their light all around, burning the Moss nearby and causing them to wither away! Dropping her light shield, Gwen flew toward Black Diamond who picked an injured Steven out of a hole in the wall about to absorb his energy! Reacting quickly, the sorceress summoned multiple magical binds made of light that wrapped around the Diamond and Diamondhead stabbed him in the chest, raising him into the air and smashing him against the ground!

Black Diamond unleashed a burst of shadow out of his body, knocking Diamondhead aside and rolled to his feet, engaging the three Plumbers as they attacked him from all sides! The Diamond dodged energy blasts from Steven and Diamondhead and sent them flying with a wave of dark, failing to notice a magic circle created by Gwen beneath him that blasted him with a beam of light that washed over him and scorched his body! He writhed in pain and Gwen smashed him against the ground with a swing of a magic staff she summoned and she took a fight pose, standing over him as Ben and Steven got to their feet.

"Is he down?" Steven asked.

"Not likely." Gwen said.

Black Diamond shoved his hand forth and directed a surge of shadow at the three and Gwen stabbed her staff into the ground, sending out pulse that electrocuted him! The Diamond hovered off the ground and Diamondhead erected a crystal spike that impaled him, burning him from the inside! The Diamond escaped again, breaking the crystal, and he unleashed a dark aura around himself when Steven flew up toward him and shoved an energy ball into his gut, causing an explosion that drove him further into the ground and nearly caused the tunnel to collapse on them!

Black Diamond quickly rose to his feet and conjured more Moss from beneath Diamondhead, Gwen and Steven, binding them and he summoned more darkness around him. He staggered as he moved, badly wounded, and he prepared to give the final blow when the room suddenly rumbled. Tremors rippled through the roof of the tunnel and the Diamond looked up only to get blasted with a gigantic energy beam that tore the tunnel apart, nearly blinding the three Plumbers as he was smashed down further into the ground!

Steven squinted through the dust cloud that filled the cave and looked to see Black Diamond lying in a pile of rubble up ahead. He looked to the giant hole in the roof where the blast came from and he grinned as he saw Starfire descend into the room. "Whoa, where'd all that power come from?" He moved up to her.

The orange woman panted, "Oh, hey, Steven." She landed before the three. "The planet's core nearly exploded, so I absorbed some of its energy, and I needed to let it out." She wiped sweat off her brow, turning to Black Diamond. "Is that the guy?"

"Yeah." Diamondhead fired a crystal into Black Diamond, causing him to crumble and burn away.

"It's finally over." Steven said, slumping on a wall and catching his breath.

"Wait, where's Kevin?" Gwen asked.

"Oh, he's still up there fighting the Moss." Starfire pointed upward.

"What?"

* * *

SAND CRUNCHED beneath the feet of the two rubies as they traveled the wastelands on the outskirts of Region Pink, the red woman and the dying man growing weary as they'd walked for what felt like hours without a soul in sight. Ruby looked to Nalar whom she aided as they walked, worried as he was becoming slower and it was harder for him to go on the longer they proceeded. Her mind clouded with worry when she bumped into something that nearly knocked her and Nalar over.

"What the …?" Ruby looked forward and saw nothing before her.

She reached out and felt something flat though she couldn't see anything, slowly stepping back as she heard garbled voices muttering all around her. The voices sounded distant yet close at the same time, the sounds of two people who were arguing somehow coming from all sides around her simultaneously!

"What is this?" Nalar looked around curiously.

"Uh, hello? Is someone there?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Shit, they heard us!" A female voice came.

"I told to soundproof this fucking thing!" A male voice said then huffed. "Alright then."

A bright light flashed before Ruby and Nalar and a massive crab-shaped ship slowly materialized out of thin air, revealing a small group of rubies that set up camp around it! Ruby looked at the settlement in confusion, her attention quickly shifting to two twelve foot tall rubies that walked toward her, startling her as they each had large weapons strapped on their backs and wore alien armor she didn't recognize.

"Sorry about that, my dumbass sister Litter was supposed to patch up the ship's cloaking." The male ruby said.

"Hey, it's not my fault, Twig; Litter Jr. was hungry!" The female ruby whined, patting the head of a giant black wolf with wings on its back that walked up to her.

"Ugh." Twig rolled his eyes.

"What's going on here? What is this place?" Nalar asked.

"Oh, how rude of me." Litter blushed in embarrassment, spinning around and gesturing to the large ship and the rubies that roamed around it. "This is Rubytopia! The settlement of the last rubies of Home World!"

"The last?" Ruby said.

"Huh? Where've you two been?" Litter chuckled. "Yeah, a few years ago White Diamond passed an order to shatter every ruby living in the Inner cities."

"The Diamonds deemed us unworthy and inefficient in combat, so they wanted to replace us with these 'AI' ruby, whatever that means." Twig said. "So, Litter and I gathered up every ruby we could find in Region White, stole this ship and tried to get off world."

"But, we couldn't get past the security outposts around the planet, so we stopped here." Litter said. "We at least figured out how to expand the ship's cloaking after tinkering around for a bit though and we've hid out here so the Diamond's forces wouldn't find us."

"And those bastards never will! A ruby nearby yelled.

"Yeah!" Another chimed in.

"Heh, you had better luck than I did, huh? Nobody listened to me when I said shi –" Nalar tried to say when electricity sputtered out of his body, forcing him down to his knees!

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Litter moved up to Nalar.

"He's injured and we're trying to find someone who can help heal him." Ruby explained.

Litter knelt beside Nalar and held his shoulder, reading his aura. "Well, he won't make it far with energy this low." She looked to Ruby. "What kind of injury saps your life force?"

"It's … complicated." Ruby said.

Litter squinted at Ruby, wondering if she was hiding something, and she drew out a small round charm from her pocket, holding it up to Nalar. "I'll share some of my energy with him, but it's only a small measure; he'll need more than this." She placed her free hand on Nalar's chest, emitting a dim light from her arm as she began the spell.

"Why don't you two stay here a while? There's plenty room here for fellow rubies." Twig offered.

Ruby sifted her mind and looked at the other rubies that filled the encampment, a gentle smile spreading on her face as she spotted a mother and father playing with their younglings. She thought this over.

* * *

KEVIN CRASHED onto a Mossling with a heavy fist, ripping through its chest and tearing its body apart, and Gwen delivered the final blow with a magical blast, causing the entity's body to collapse and turn to dust! Panting, Kevin looked around the underground room he, Gwen, Ben, Starfire and Steven were in, finally letting out a sigh of relief as he saw the Moss crumbling away. "That's the last of 'em." He creaked his neck. "Those bastards sure packed a punch."

"Yeah, but what's important is that this planet's safe now." Gwen said. "We can report this in to HQ and find out where else the Moss might be."

"Sounds like a plan." Ben said, transforming back from Diamondhead to his normal form.

"Yeah, and it's gonna be even easier now that the crew's back together, right Steven?" Starfire turned to Steven who knelt before a dying Mossling. "Steven …?"

Kevin squinted then frowned, moving up to the man. "Hey, what're you doing back there? If it absorbs your energy, the Moss will revive and …" He stopped as he got closer. "Huh …?"

"Steven?" Starfire came to his side, confused as he saw tears streaming down his face.

Steven trembled as he lay his hand on the Mossling, failing to compose himself. "The Moss, it's … my people."

"What?" Gwen asked.

"It's made up of souls of fallen gems, all driven by grief and madness." Steven said. "Hundreds, thousands of them …" The Mossling he laid his hand on disintegrated and he clenched his fist shakily, turning to Starfire as she squeezed his hand gently.

"I'm so sorry, Steven." Starfire said and Kevin placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him as well.

Steven looked to Ben and Gwen as they came up to him and he wiped his tears, rising to his feet. "We'll put a stop to this, Steven, I promise." Ben said.

"If only there was a way to track them all down." Gwen said. "I thought Black Diamond was the source, but I guess I was wrong."

"It won't stop unless we get to the source." Steven said, looking to Starfire. "I'll come back to the Plumbers, but I'll need your help."

* * *

RUBY WATCHED as ruby younglings ran past her while she sat beside the large ship, smiling as Litter Jr., the giant winged wolf, sniffed her and she petted his snout. "Seems he's taken a liking to you." Twig said as he walked up to her. "Litter's not gonna like that."

"Well, I'm not much of a pet person." Ruby replied then recoiled as the wolf licked her face. "Oh, come on!" She quickly got up and wiped the slobber off her face, gaining a laugh from Twig, and she stopped as she heard footsteps coming from the ship, turning to see Litter walking out of it. "How is he?"

"He should be able to continue walking for a bit, but he'll need a lot more treatment than this." Litter got off the ship, giving way to Nalar who disembarked as well.

"Thank you so much." Ruby moved up to her. "I don't know any healing magic, so I'd be at a loss here if it weren't for your help."

"Yes, thank you." Nalar said.

"Oh, it's no problem really." Litter smiled.

"Are you sure you can't stay at all, even for a night?" Twig asked.

"We have to keep moving, and so do you." Nalar said.

"What do you mean?" Litter asked.

"The Moss are coming." Ruby said. "They destroyed a village a few hours from here and it won't be long before they find their way here."

"You have to escape while you can." Nalar added.

Twig looked at the other rubies then scoffed. "Nah, we can take 'em."

"What?" Ruby frowned.

"Yeah, we're no pushovers." Litter added. "We can hold our own in a fight."

"Didn't you hear us? They destroyed an entire village a few hours ago." Nalar repeated.

"We heard you and we said we can handle it." Twig crossed his arms. "How do you think we managed to escape Region White anyway?"

"You don't understand; we're just rubies, we can't –," Ruby said then cut herself off, frowning. "… You … you can do it."

"What?" Nalar turned to her.

"You can take them on." Ruby said. "Just be careful."

"We should be saying that to you, shortstack." Litter said with a smile. "Just come by whenever you can."

"You'll know where to find us." Twig said. "We're not going anywhere."

Ruby nodded. "Thank you for everything." She turned to Nalar. "Come on, let's go."

Ruby and Nalar walked away from Twig and Litter, waving goodbye before the camp disappeared under the ship's cloaking. Nalar stared at Ruby as he followed her, wondering what was going through her mind and failing to understand her reasoning for enabling the others. He slowed down however and looked underneath his jacket, seeing his side slowly crumbling into dust! Glancing at Ruby, he buttoned his top and continued on after her.

* * *

"NO FOOD, no booze, no internet and no guys for a hundred miles, now that's some bullshit." Amethyst groaned as she walked through a forest on the outskirts of Region White. "Right Lion?"

Lion looked at her blankly then walked off. "Oh, right, you're a guy." Amethyst said as the animal moved past her. "Wait, are you a guy? I don't know how animals work really." Lion glanced at her than continued on. "Oh, right, you're not _actually_ a lion, I forgot." She chuckled and the gem remained silent. "Come on, at least nod or something! We've been walking for almost a day now; I can't keep talking to myself."

Lion ignored her and kept going, annoying the purple woman as she followed him, coming to a clearing and seeing the bright lights of the inner city in the distance contrasting against the night sky. "Oh fuck, oh fuck – uh, Lion, let's try going somewhere else." She u-turned and took another path when she realized Lion had remained behind. "Lion?"

Amethyst looked to the animal that looked at the city blankly and she moved up to him when she sensed a familiar energy signature, her eyes dilating as she instantly recognized who it was. Running off, the purple woman made her way through the bushes and between trees, sliding down a small hill and coming to a stop as she felt the source of the presence she felt. She choked up as she saw a small group of three amethysts, a tanzanite and a beryl seated by a campfire and discussing amongst themselves.

"The Famethyst …" She finally realized, moving toward them.

"Alright, so from the information we've analyzed, the city's heavily monitored around the labs which are closer to the center which is where Yellow along with White Diamond most likely are." Beryl said. "When we launch our attack, we …" He froze as he looked up. "Amethyst?"

"Beryl …" Amethyst said, her tears flowing freely, and she ran up to the male gem, hugging him tightly. "I can't believe I found you again!"

"Whoa, it's amethyst!" An amethyst got to her feet, rousing the small group as they recognized their old leader.

"That's her?" Tanzanite raised her brow.

Amethyst pulled back and held Beryl's face in disbelief. "I thought you were dead."

"We were rescued during the attack, but we couldn't find you and the others in time." Beryl said, tearing up as well.

Amethyst stepped away from him and looked to the others, recognizing the amethysts 8XG, 8XJ and 8XL, not noticing Tanzanite who moved up to her. "Oh, hi, I'm new to the group." She held her hand out. "I guess I never got the chance to meet you."

"Oh, hey." Amethyst shook her hand, wiping the tears off her face.

"Amethyst, meet my girlfriend, Tanzanite." Beryl said.

Amethyst's heart sank as she heard this. "Your what? What do you mean girlfriend?"

"Yeah, we met two years ago." Tanzanite said, curious. "Is something wrong?"

"Now who might you be?" A large yellow-skinned man entered the small camp and moved up to Amethyst.

"Oh, you're back." Beryl turned to the man and smiled. "Zenoth, this's our former leader Amethyst." He turned to her. "Amethyst, this's Zenoth, the man who saved us when Home World attacked us and got us separated a century ago."

Amethyst failed to hear anything else being said as her heart pounded in her chest, shifting her glance from Beryl to Tanzanite.

* * *

THE STARS shone brightly over Oval Town, the quiet village awash in a gentle breeze as summer slowly came though, waving through Pearl's hair as she sat at the foot of a tree beside Gen as they gazed at the night sky. "It's beautiful isn't it?" Gen said.

"Yeah …" Pearl said. "It's amazing honestly; I've been to many planets, yet the sky never ceases to astound me." Her smile slowly died. "I never want this to end."

"You can do this any time you want."

"One day I won't be." She said. "We're getting closer to Home World and … I don't know if I'll be able to come back."

"Come on; don't say that, you can do this." He turned to her. "You've come too far just to fail in the end."

"I don't think I can do this." She said, starting to panic. "I can't face her again."

"Pearl, listen to me." Gen held her face. "You are not going to lose. You and the Gems can save Home World and you can come back home." Pearl looked into his eyes and forced a smile, fighting off tears as he held her hand. "There's nothing to fear."

"Pearl." Rose's voice cut sharply through Pearl's thoughts.

SHAKING HER head, Pearl looked around and realized that she was at the foot of the hill outside of the inner city of Region Pink, turning back and seeing Rose standing a few feet behind her. "You miss her don't you?" Rose said.

Pearl squinted and tried to think, turning back and seeing the home of Pink Diamond in the distance. "I don't want to leave …"

"You don't need Pink Diamond, Pearl." Rose moved up to her. "You're free now, free from her."

Pearl looked at Rose then at the city, struggling to choose.

* * *

"UH, PEARL?" Connie asked as she moved up to the pale woman who stood with her on the hill in present day Region Pink, having stared at the inner city for some time. "Pearl, are you okay?"

Pearl looked at the large black tower at the center of the dilapidated and dirty desert town, clenching her fist as she steeled herself. "Yeah, I'm fine." She sighed. "Let's go."

* * *

HORROR SPREAD across Lapis' face as she saw the lazulis lying in their pods in the assembly room in White Diamond's lab in Region White. Flashes of the past quickly filled her mind when the main door into the lab opened, drawing the attention of the other Agates who quickly bowed. "Welcome, Lord Diamond." The Agates said in near unison.

Lapis froze as she heard this, turning to the Diamond who stood at the top of the upper platform, looking down upon them as she studied the room. Rage quickly replaced the fear in Lapis as she looked at the goddess, struggling to cover her emotions as the Diamond came down to the lower platform and looked at the lazulis being created.

"Alright then." White Diamond said. "Let us begin."

* * *

If you enjoyed this chapter, please check out our Deviantart or Tumblr pages (/realdoneuniverse) for character designs for this book and the previous two. Don't forget to follow so you don't miss our next chapter titled "Worthless"!

Thanks for reading.


	5. Ashes

**Ashes**

A SMILE spread across Blood Quartz' face as he looked into Jasper's eyes, gurgling comfortably as she cradled him in her arms. Helio smiled as he saw how happy Jasper was in that moment, shifting his gaze to a purple planet in the distance and squinting as a sun further behind it shone brightly. Having been in space for a while, the black gem decided to check his gauntlet to see how much oxygen they had left in their suits when he saw a massive orange star-shaped asteroid up ahead that made him freeze up in awe.

"Is that it?" Helio asked, stunned by how massive it was compared to Home World.

Jasper looked up and smiled as she saw the planet. "Yes, it was my home for a time." She hovered up to him. "This is Dragonbloom, land of the Star Dragons."

"The what!?" Helio exclaimed in shock and quickly moved up to her. "The Star Dragons? They're just a myth."

"No, they're real; I've known them for many years."

"But –," Helio quickly composed himself. "How are they so close to Home World when no one has heard of or seen them in millennia? They're supposed to be more powerful than the Diamonds themselves!"

"I know their leader and he left a gateway near Home World only I and others I allowed could enter through." Jasper said, moving toward the planet. "Come, let's go meet my family." Helio raised his brow in surprise as Jasper went on and he followed her, entering the planet together. "The Star Dragons are celestial beings who live on Dragonbloom and unlike the Diamonds believe, are entirely peaceful and have no real interest in dominating the cosmos. They love nature and live in harmony outside the reach of other sentient life." A bright light shone over the three and Jasper smiled. "Here we are."

The sun shone brightly over the starry skies of Dragonbloom, welcoming Jasper, Helio and their child to the view of the open lush landscapes that spread before them. The two descended to the ground and landed on the soft grasslands, smiling as giant dandelion-like plants peppered its petals over them, bringing a hearty laugh to Jasper Helio had never seen before.

Helio was awestruck as they roamed the grasslands, his smile quickly dying as he saw the corpse of a gigantic dragon lying nearby. "Jasper …"

Jasper turned as she heard him and her heart sank as she recognized the beast, quickly running up to it when she saw another to her right. "Nubias, Livar …" She ran off, leaving Blood in Helio's arms.

Jasper ran up to Nubias and placed her hand on his neck, failing to get a pulse or an energy signature from him; he was gone. Horror spread on her face as she checked on Livar, sensing nothing from him as well, and she ran on, seeing body after body littering the grasslands behind rocks and under trees that she didn't notice before. She came to a stop as she came upon an opening, her knees giving way as she found the carcass of a large round dragon lying amongst her dead younglings.

Tears streamed down Jasper's face and she wept bitterly, kneeling midst those whom she called family as they laid dead around her. Helio came to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder, looking around and wondering what had happened to the dragons. She trembled as her crying slowly died down and tried to think, looking around and searching out to see if she could sense anyone's energy signatures.

"I'm sorry, Jasper." Helio said. "We'll find a way to –,"

"It's all over." Jasper cut him off. "Everyone's gone; they're all dead. All my armies, and now this …"

Helio sighed, looking to Blood started to grow worried, and he turned to her. "Who could have done this?"

"I don't know …" She tried to think, slowly composing herself. "I don't think there's anyone strong enough to even face them yet along massacre all of them."

"… Well, we need to try and figure out what happened here." Helio stood and walked toward a body. "We can –,"

"Wait." Jasper cut him off again, sensing something and rising to her feet. "Someone's still alive around here." She turned to her left and saw a massive black mountain in the distance. "The Elder!" Her face brightened up and she ran off. "Follow me!"

* * *

AMETHYST SAT beside Beryl at the fireplace, watching as more Amethysts arrived and joined the rest of the Famethyst as they geared up outside of Region White's inner city. A smile spread on Amethyst's face as she saw Lion sitting amongst 8XG, 8XL and 8XJ and she looked to Zenoth, her mind becoming more suspicious of him as she couldn't really sense his energy very well.

"You haven't really changed much at all have you?" Beryl said as he added logs to the fire. "You still dress inappropriately for combat."

"I probably dress inappropriately in general, at least according to Pearl." Amethyst shrugged. "Nobody's really changed much honestly."

Beryl chuckled. "Yeah."

"I'm surprised you kept the name I gave you guys – didn't I make it up while I was drunk or something?"

"Well, nobody could come up with something new, so we stuck to it." He said. "Besides, we needed something to remember you by."

She smiled. "And I remembered you …" She drew out her locket and opened it, revealing an old picture of her and Beryl.

He froze in surprise upon seeing this, looking to Amethyst. "It was so long ago."

"I never forgot about you." She laughed slightly. "I thought you died when we got separated and I tried to move on, but I couldn't let go … and here you are."

He hesitated. "… But **_I_** moved on."

Amethyst frowned. "But –,"

"Beryl." Tanzanite called as she arrived, realizing that she'd interrupted the two, and she awkwardly continued. "The scouts have returned and Zenoth wants to discuss the rest of the plan."

"Thanks, Tan." Beryl said and got to his feet, following her and leaving Amethyst behind.

Amethyst watched the two leave and tried to piece together what was happening, unsure of how to feel about what Beryl said. Shaking herself out of it, she went up to where the rest of the Famethyst had gathered and sat by herself away from Beryl, paying no heed to some of the amethysts who looked at her curiously. Zenoth, the large yellow-skinned man with white hair garbed in black and white armor with a large sword holstered on his back, walked up to the group while reading a holo-map of Region White's inner city.

"Alright, now that we're all here, let's go over our plans one last time to invade the city and kill Yellow Diamond." Zenoth said.

"Wait, you wanna do what?!" Amethyst interjected.

"We're going to take out Yellow Diamond." Zenoth turned to her. "Try and keep up, I thought Beryl filled you in on this."

"You can't just attack Yellow Diamond; she'll kill you." Amethyst stood up.

"We've planned this out for months; we're know what we're doing." An amethyst said. "The fuck are you to come and start telling us how we do things around here anyway."

"We know the weaknesses in the city's defenses and once we've surrounded Yellow Diamond, killing her won't be a problem." Zenoth explained.

Amethyst blinked, completely stunned. "You're retarded, right? You honestly think you can fucking attack one of those big bitches and it'll be easy? Most of you don't have the energy level of a fucking captain for shit's sake!"

"Now, Amethyst, just calm down and hear him out." Beryl said.

"Oh, fuck off, Beryl." Amethyst snapped at him, turning to Zenoth. "You're gonna get yourselves killed."

Zenoth dismissed the holo-map and walked up to Amethyst, standing over her. "Who are you exactly?"

"I'm Amethyst, I started this group before the Crystal Gems left Home World." Amethyst crossed her arms. "And who are you, asshole?"

"I saved these gems from being executed and have led them up to this point." Zenoth said. "I can respect what you've done for them in the past, but interrupt me again and it'll be the last time you speak."

"Ooh, someone sure is full of themselves, huh?" Amethyst laughed and Beryl grabbed her by the arm, taking her away from the others and further into the woods.

"What the hell are you doing?" Beryl said to Amethyst in a hushed voice, looking back to the others and seeing Zenoth continue talking to the rest of the group.

"How can you move on from me? **_Me_**?!" Amethyst yelled.

"Amethyst, this is not the time for this." He replied, still keeping his voice low. "We can discuss this after the operation's over."

"No, no, we're discussing this now." She said, becoming infuriated. "I thought we had something special going on and what? You just toss it all aside after we get split for a couple years?"

"It's been forty years!" He frowned. "You know what, fuck it, I would've broken up with you even if we didn't split up; you've been a selfish asshole from day one and you don't care about anyone but yourself! You just do what you want and fuck who you want, and you don't care who it affects in the end."

Amethyst tried to respond, but hesitated, unsure of what to say. "Beryl –,"

"I don't have time for this." Beryl said, starting to leave. "If you want to help then fine, but if you're not, then just go."

Amethyst watched Beryl return to the others and thought over what he said when Zenoth's voice cut her thoughts. "Alright, let's move!" He said and the group began to disperse, making Amethyst panic as they started to gear up and started heading for the inner city!

* * *

RUBY WATCHED Nalar as he walked, smiling softly as he hadn't limped once since they left Rubytopia behind and continued through the desert. "What?" He finally noticed her staring, gaining a wider grin from her.

"You're looking strong for once!" Ruby said. "And you wanted me to just leave you behind."

"We can't celebrate just yet; we haven't found Sphalerite's home." Nalar said. "Though I can sense we're drawing closer to it."

"See? Things are working out for a change!" Ruby tapped his shoulder. "Come on, smile for once; we're gonna make it."

He huffed and looked at her, at the relief and elation on her face, and he smiled a little. "I guess we can be happy about something." He continued on then glanced behind him, seeing nothing but sand stretching out almost endlessly. "Do you think we'll meet them again?"

"Litter and Twig? I hope so, they were kinda interesting to me." She said. "And they were pretty damn tall too – I thought rubies were all below five-foot-six, but I guess I was wrong."

"I guess some gem mutations work out better than others." He said, looking to the starry sky.

Ruby looked at Nalar and sensed he was getting down again, moving up to him. "Don't worry about it, alright?" She draped her arm over his shoulder. "Look, when we help get you healed, why don't you join the Crystal Gems?"

"What?"

"You should join us." She repeated. "Once you've got your energy back, you could help us take on the Diamonds and stop them for good – plus, we could use the extra hands even if you're not much of a fighter. I'm not and they still keep me around."

"No, I wouldn't want to drag you guys down." Nalar said.

"Well, I want you to join us." Ruby insisted. "And when this's all over, we can do whatever you wanna do, you and me. We both deserve a break after all we've been through."

Nalar searched his mind, unsure of the proposal, and he looked back at Ruby who smiled at him reassuringly, getting lost in her warm maroon eyes. He tried to speak when jagged hand burst through his stomach, impaling him cleanly from his back and drawing out blood! Ruby withdrew in shock and saw a Mossling slowly forming from the ground behind Nalar, digging its arm into his body!

Ruby reacted quickly and shot a fireball through the creature, disintegrating it, and she ran to Nalar's side when another Mossling came at her from behind and slashed her right arm clean off! She screamed in pain as her blood gushed out of her socket and the beast kicked her down, extending its grotesque twisted arm as it stalked toward her. Fighting the pain, Ruby punched through the ground with her remaining arm and sent fire beneath the monster, sending it out like a geyser and incinerating it completely!

Ruby breathed heavily as she continued to bleed out and she quickly tried to focus as she was close to passing out, slowly healing herself. Gritting her teeth, she reformed her arm and exhaled in relief as she clenched her right fist and felt her strength return, standing up and rushing to Nalar who was bent over on the ground.

"Nalar!" Ruby slowly turned him over, seeing his skin rapidly becoming pale. "Nalar?"

"Sph … Ruby, I –," He coughed out blood, balling up even more.

Ruby started to panic and she tried to summon a healing sphere over him, frowning as only sparks spurted from her hands. "Shit!" She huffed, regretting not learning how to heal all this time. "Nalar, just hang on, I can go back to Litter and the others."

"Sphalerite …" Nalar finally managed, pushing himself up and covering the whole over his stomach. "I can sense her nearby …"

Ruby looked around, seeing nothing but desert all around, and she frowned, turning back to Nalar. "Let's go find her then."

Holding him up as carefully as she could, Ruby helped Nalar stand and the two continued walking through the desert. "We're gonna be fine, just hang on."

* * *

JASPER LAID her hand on the side of a young grey dragon that lay on a path carved into the side of Black Mount that she and Helio walked upon, the high-pitched cries of the child echoing in her mind from when she last saw him coming back to her. Helio watched as Jasper looked over the body and he looked to Blood Quartz who stretched his arm out to her, sensing his mother's grief even though he didn't understand what was going on.

"Maybe we should just go back." Helio said.

"I can't."

"You've stopped by every single body as we've gone up this mountain; you shouldn't be seeing this." He walked up to her.

Jasper paused and stared at the corpse for a moment, slowly taking her hand off it and turning back to Helio. "Let's keep going." She walked off.

Helio followed her as she went on, noting her faster pace and realizing that she moved past another body without batting an eye. Shaking himself out of it, he looked at his readings on his gauntlet and huffed, catching up with Jasper. "Seems my fears were correct; the gravity here is much stronger than on Home World." He said. "There's no way we can fly."

"It hasn't normally been like this." She said. "The planet is changing."

He looked to the grasslands below, at the corpses that littered the ground. "Maybe we should call this off."

"What're you talking about?" She stopped and turned to him.

"The mission; we can't stop the Diamonds like this." He said. "We've lost our forces and now our last chance to get more power is gone as well. Maybe we should just give up on Home World."

"I'm not going to let the Diamonds get away with what they've done." She said, growing agitated. "I will stop them."

"And what is our plan exactly? Because we're out of options here."

"We find the Elder then I'll take it from there." She said. "I've planned for many years to get to this moment; I'm not giving up now."

Jasper continued up the mountain and Helio huffed, following her. "Who is this 'Elder' anyway?" He asked.

"The Elder Dragon is the guardian leader and father of all Star Dragons, the most powerful of them all; an old and wise ruler." Jasper explained. "He was more of a father to me than my real one was."

The two made their way up Black Mount, drawing closer to the summit, and the presence Jasper felt became more clear and unmistakable for Helio. He wondered however as they went on why the energy he sensed seemed frail and weak, much less imposing than what he'd expect from a being fabled to be stronger than a Diamond. He tried to search his mind when a tremor shook the mountain, almost knocking him and Jasper off their feet!

"What was that?" Jasper looked to Helio when a more powerful quake ripped through the mountain, causing a landslide behind them that destroyed the path behind them!

The two watched in confusion as the quakes continued and looked down below to see a massive crack tear through the valley, letting lava leak out as the core of the planet was slowly exposed! They continued their way up the mountain more quickly when the rocks beneath Helio gave way, sending him falling off the path when Jasper caught him by the arm at the last second! Helio looked up to Jasper, catching his breath as she pulled him up when he realized that Blood had fallen out of his grip, looking down to see the baby plummeting to the lava below!

"Blood!" Jasper cried in terror and Helio jumped down, diving toward the lava and after Blood!

* * *

ZENOTH CROUCHED upon a treetop in the forest surrounding Region White's inner city and closely watched the guards patrolling the city: some of whom flew about inside armored suits, others that road on Quadrabeasts (four-armed gorilla-like monsters) and a few roaming on foot. He listened closely as he connected to the Famethyst gems via telepathic link he'd set up and he waited for his moment to step in, clutching at the hilt of his sword and ready to move out.

An explosion ripped through a building to his far right, drawing the gem guards' attention, and Zenoth recognized the signal, getting to his feet and drawing out his sword. Chanting a spell, the man charged a massive energy pulse and fired it at a lookout tower that stood outside the town, causing it to explode and rapidly collapse, making the guards scramble even more as they tried to put out the fires. Seeing their panic, he leapt off the tree and ran toward the city, covering hundreds of meters in seconds and cutting down a gem guard he came across and entering a street.

Zenoth shook the blood off his blade and looked around as civilians fled in a panic upon seeing the guard's body on the ground, turning to his left to see Beryl, Tanzanite, Amethyst and Lion enter the street. "How's it looking out there?" He asked, moving up to them.

"The guards were on their usual patrol route like we anticipated, so they were easy to take out." Beryl said.

"Their backup should be on its way in a few seconds." Tanzanite said.

"Alright, lay down the circles and proceed as planned – I'll go on ahead and sweep the streets." Zenoth said, speeding off.

"You heard the captain, let's move." Beryl said to Tanzanite who nodded and ran off. He drew out a mallet holstered on his back and headed for the next street when he saw Amethyst simply looking around. "What're you doing?"

"This isn't gonna work; the Diamonds or their captains will be on us and it'll be all over." Amethyst said. Beryl frowned and walked off, completely ignoring her, and Amethyst huffed as Lion joined the others as they engaged the gem guards on the ground, wondering what she should do next.

Elsewhere in the city, Zenoth locked blades with a gem guard and cut him down, chucking his sword into the air and tearing through a Home World ship that came flying toward him, downing the vessel instantly and sending it plummeting to the road below! Summoning the weapon back to him via small portal, he moved further through the street and looked to his right to see an amethyst laying a small round machine on the ground.

Sheathing his sword, Zenoth contacted the others telepathically. "Alright, light it up!"

Nodding, the amethyst pressed a button on the machine and it came to life, releasing a beam of light that shot into the sky! Several Famethyst gems activated other such devices throughout the city, sending out light beams that shot up and curved to a point, spreading outward and creating a photonic dome over the buildings beneath! Magical symbols appeared on the barrier and the gem soldiers below began to panic as their powers began to fluctuate, allowing the Famethyst to take them out with ease.

Zenoth smiled as the battle quickly shifted in their favor, turning his attention to White Diamond's egg-shaped laboratory building that peaked in the distance when an energy blast hit him in the back, sending him flying into a vehicle nearby! Pulling himself out of the wreckage, he looked up and frowned as he saw a woman with a spear sheathed on her back and her six lieutenants arrive, recognizing her and drawing out his sword.

"Seriously? You repay us for sparing you with this?" The woman said.

"You know I couldn't just sit by and let you get away with this." Zenoth frowned. "It's over, Gold."

"That's Gold Diamond to you!" She groaned. "Kids these days, no respect whatsoever." She turned to her lieutenants. "Kill them all."

A loud surge erupted behind Zenoth and he turned to see the barrier collapsing as a gem guard destroyed a projector! Seeing the Famethyst quickly get surrounded by Home World soldiers, he ran to their aid when Gold Diamond tackled him, grabbing him by the neck and pinning against a building! He struggled to break out of her grip and she punched him in the gut, causing a shockwave that obliterated the skyscraper behind him, and she pinned him against the ground!

"What happened to you? All these years and you've only gotten weaker? Pathetic!" Gold frowned.

Zenoth grunted as she tightened her grip and he turned to see an amethyst get cut down by one of her lieutenants. "No!"

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, piss ant!" Gold Diamond yelled, picking him up with one arm and tossing him at a shop opposite her, destroying the building and sending him barreling into the ground and tearing up the next street!

Amethyst dodged falling debris as buildings collapsed from Zenoth's crash and she sidestepped as an armored vehicle fired a laser turret at her! Reacting quickly, she drew out her whip, lassoed a nearby rock and smashed it onto the truck's roof, destroying it! She withdrew the weapon and ran off when she heard a laser blast behind her, looking back to see a gem guard gunning down Tanzanite!

She watched Beryl retaliate against the guard in rage and she looked to her left, seeing three Home World ships drawing in on them.

Nearby, Zenoth pulled himself out of a heap of rubble and witnessed his plan fall to pieces with the arrival of Gold Diamond and her forces who cut down Famethyst members left and right. He tried to contact those that remained telepathically when the Diamond came crashing down on him with her spear, digging the blade deep in his side and drawing blood from his mouth!

"I should kill you here and now for disgracing us, but …" She withdrew her weapon, enjoying seeing him writhe as she tore it out of his flesh. "It'd be too easy killing you when you're barely as strong as you used to be." She turned to a lieutenant that shot down an amethyst nearby. "Toss him and the remainder of his cohorts out of the city." She looked back to him. "If you dare show your face around here again, I won't show you any mercy." With that, she cracked the handle of her spear across his face, knocking him out!

* * *

COLD WINDS swept through the patchy desert in Region White as midnight drew closer, making it difficult for Ruby as Nalar stumbled by every gust as he got weaker and weaker. His blood slowly drenched his body and left his footsteps red in the sand behind him, making Ruby wonder if they'd ever make it in time. As they moved on however, a small building began to peak in the distance, giving Ruby hope.

"Is that it?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, it's –," Nalar tried to speak when he fell over.

"Nalar –," Ruby went to his side when she saw that his legs were slowly turning to ash! "What the?"

Nalar laughed weakly and turned himself on his back, looking up at the sky. "I guess my time's … up now."

"What? But I thought Litter shared her energy with you." She said.

"I was never … going to make it." He coughed out blood, struggling to speak. "I led you here so … so the Moss wouldn't find you, but I guess … even that didn't work."

"But we're so close; I can see Sphalerite's house right there!" She said. "Come on, I can carry you there if you can't –," She reached for his arm, but it disintegrated in her hands!

He smiled wistfully. "I can tell that Leggy isn't alive anymore, so maybe I can finally see her again."

"No, no, I can take you there right now, just hang on." She held his hand.

Nalar's skin paled even more rapidly than before, turning completely gray, and he turned to her as his strength waned. "Thank you for helping me, Ruby …"

"Nalar …?" Ruby's eyes dilated as his hand crumbled and ran between her fingers. "Nalar!" She tried to shake him, but got no response, beginning to panic as his body began to fade away.

The cold winds carried Nalar's ashes as he completely collapsed and Ruby wept as she saw Nalar's face fall apart as he turned to dust. His ashes spread over the ground around her and she shut her eyes as there was nothing she could do to stop it when she felt warmth suddenly spread over her! She looked forward and jerked back in surprise as a healing light sphere slowly spread around her and Nalar's remains.

She turned to her left and saw a tall figure approaching them. "Bismuth?"

* * *

And chapter 5 is done!

I'd honestly planned on killing off Nalar from his inception, but I figured I'd go against my instincts and let him live. I think there's some potential to be explored between him and Ruby, so I think I'll let him stick around. It also created the perfect moment to bring up Bismuth after all this time, so it worked out I guess.

Don't forget to follow us so you don't miss our next chapter "Old Names, Old Faces." If you liked the chapter, check out our Deviantart or Tumblr ( realdoneuniverse) for our character designs!

Thanks for reading.


	6. Old Names, Old Faces

**OLD NAMES, OLD FACES**

CONNIE SHIELDED her eyes from the desert sand as winds swept by her and Pearl as they made their way toward the inner city of Region Pink. She took a closer look as the dust settled and she felt her heart sink as she saw a massive spiky Black Tower lying at the center of the town up ahead.

"The Black Tower? I thought we destroyed that thing back in Beach City." She said.

"There must've been multiple of them." Pearl frowned. "Pink Diamond must have been the one who designed them, it makes sense now." She walked on. "Let's keep moving."

Connie grew apprehensive as she and Pearl entered the city, wondering if she'd be noticed as they moved on when she saw most of the gems in the city were missing limbs, misshapen or horribly disfigured.

"What happened to them?" Connie asked.

"I don't know." Pearl said. "They might be retired soldiers or something."

"But don't gems all have the ability to regenerate?"

Pearl too became puzzled at this, deciding to continue on toward the Black Tower at the center of the town, all the careful not to draw attention to themselves and sticking to moving among the crowds. Whether it was morbid curiosity or hatred that drove her to look for Pink Diamond, she wanted to see her old master one last time before it was all over, before she could finally kill her by her own hand.

The further they went into the city, the more confused Connie became as she took in the damaged and old buildings and shops that lined the tar road riddled with holes. She wondered why a Diamond would call such a torn down place their home, finding little difference between the city and the Slave Village aside from size. Reaching the center of the city, the two came at the foot of the Black Tower and began to feel tense as they sensed Pink Diamond's immense energy smother them from afar.

Pearl steeled herself and moved toward the edifice with Connie who glanced at the gems guarding the entrance, wondering how they'd make it through. She tried to think when Pearl suddenly buckled up and collapsed on the ground! "Pearl?" Connie raised her brow.

Rushing to her side, Connie turned the pale woman over and froze in shock as she saw that her pupils had completely disappeared and her forehead gem had turned white! "Pearl? Pearl!" She shook her, getting no response.

Connie tried not to panic and began to heal her when she heard the gem guards mutter to each other and run toward her. With no time to escape, the girl drew out her sword and resolved to fight them to protect Pearl, trying to think of a way to beat them without getting overwhelmed. She clashed with a gem guard and cut him down, quickly spinning around to deflect a laser shot with her sword when she saw Pearl's body slowly being levitated off the ground!

"Pearl!" Connie cried out.

"My, my, aren't we noisy." A female voice chuckled, drawing Connie's attention to the Black Tower behind her.

Walking toward her was a tall woman who commanded the attention of the guards as she drew closer to them, causing them to withdraw their attack. They all bowed to her and the leader among them stepped forward to address the woman, immediately making Connie realize who she was.

"Lord Diamond, you need not come here; we'll have these intruders dealt with swiftly." The guard said.

"Hmm …" Pink Diamond raised her brow and looked at Connie, becoming confused. "I thought I sensed Rose here – I must've been in the lab too long." She chuckled and began to take her leave when she finally recognized Pearl, her face lighting up with excitement. "Pearl, you finally returned to me after all this time."

"Let go of her!" Connie demanded.

"You don't seem damaged." Pink Diamond drew Pearl closer to her. "You seem stronger than before, much stronger." She smiled and reached out to the Gem. "This is perfect."

"I said let her go!" Connie yelled and swung at Pink Diamond, cutting her hand clean off her wrist!

Pink Diamond withdrew in pain and Connie jerked back in surprise, shocked at what she'd just done, and the guards quickly drew their weapons. "Eliminate her!" Pink Diamond ordered as she regenerated her severed limb and the men charged at Connie.

Reforming her hand, the Diamond turned to Pearl and lifted her back up telepathically, smiling as she looked at the unconscious gem and studied her eyes.

* * *

ON EARTH in a market in the Hidden Leaf Village, a girl stared at a vegetable stand for a bit, beginning to irritate the man at the stand. She stood there for a bit and eyed the tomatoes and greens in front of her when a blue-haired girl nudged her, shaking her out of her thoughts.

"Hey, Sumiko, are you still here?" The pink-haired girl said.

"Uh, yeah, yeah." The girl said, handing some coins to the vegetable seller. "Five tomatoes please."

"Why do you keep drifting off like that, huh?" A pink-haired girl who stood beside Sumiko said, tapping her head repeatedly. "Wake the fuck up why don'tcha!"

"Hey, I'm older than you." Sumiko said, trying to hide the fact that the tapping hurt a little.

"Yeah, well, act like it; I'm tired of picking up your slack." The pink-haired girl said and walked off with a basket in hand. "Come on, mom's waiting."

Sumiko frowned and a blue-haired girl came up to her with the tomatoes she brought. "Don't let her get to you, Sumiko, you're doing just fine." She put the tomatoes into her basket. "Let's go."

Sumiko watched the two rejoin their mother by a large shop up ahead and she huffed to herself and rejoined them. "Why'd you take so long? I only needed a few tomatoes." Sumiko's mother said.

"Sumiko drifted off again." The pink-haired girl said. "Probably staring at the boys around here, huh?"

"No, I'm not." Sumiko retorted.

"You were staring at the girls? Yeesh, Sumiko." The pink-haired girl mocked.

"Just leave me alone, okay!" Sumiko walked off.

"Sumiko!" The blue-haired girl called, getting no response, and she turned to the pink-haired girl. "You need to stop being mean to her."

"It is a little weird if she's into girls." Sumiko's mother said.

"She just needs some space, alright?" The blue-haired girl said, looking to Sumiko as she headed back to their home. "She's just a little slow."

"Yeah, slow 'cause a' all the pussy out here, am I right?" The pink-haired girl walked on.

"Hey, language." Their mother chastised.

"I'm just saying." The pink-haired girl chuckled as the three made their way out of the market

Meanwhile on the village's outskirts, a tall pink-haired woman roamed a lab in a building hidden in the forest, looking over her plans once more. She moved past piles of old books and scrolls, and magic esoteric diagrams and ritual drawings on the walls and floor. Glancing at a dismembered arm she'd experimented upon, she grunted in frustration and left the room.

Moving through the halls of the secret building, she came up to two armed ninja who stopped before her. "You called us, Master Harumi?" One of the men said.

"I think it's about time we sped up our plans." Harumi said. "I want you to find a clan member of the Uchiha and harvest their eyes by nightfall; we're running out of time."

"Yes, Master." The men said in unison and they vanished.

* * *

HELIO LANDED at the foot of Black Mount in Dragonbloom with a loud thud, jerking back as a strip of lava shot out of the ground nearby. He looked out before him, seeing fissures in the ground spread over several meters and slowly let lava leak out to the surface! Stepping forward, he looked around for Blood and wondered where the infant was when he heard a crash behind him, turning back to see Jasper landing.

"Where is he?" Jasper asked as she walked up to him.

"I can't see him anywhere." Helio responded.

"We have to find him quickly." Jasper said when a crack ripped the ground, tearing through the mountain behind them and creating a chasm between them. "Go!"

Helio nodded and darted off, using a small drone-like tracker that flew off in another direction, and Jasper made her way back to the valley they came from. She called out to the child as she searched, struggling to come up with any ideas as he could neither speak nor emit a strong enough energy signature for her to sense, leaving her running blind. The quakes grew worse and worse as she and Helio continued their search and she began to worry about the Elder Dragon, wondering if he was even alive to begin with.

A loud explosion cut Jasper's thoughts and she jumped back as a wall of lava burst from the ground before her, sending up smoke that darkened the skies above. The beautiful grasslands around her quickly burned as molten rock sprayed all around her, quickly surrounding her as a deep abyss began to form around her. She turned heel to avoid collapsing underground when the quakes suddenly stopped!

Jasper frowned and slowly turned as she felt an immense energy erupting behind her and she saw Blood raising his hand to the sky and guiding the lava back underground!

"Blood …"

* * *

AMETHYST SLID down a slope in the forest outside Region White, hissing as she closed a gash on her arm, and she returned to the Famethyst who were recuperating from the attack. Few members survived their loss at the hands of Gold Diamond, a Diamond she neither heard of nor expected to come across, and the group was at wit's end on what to do next. She grumbled to herself in frustration, knowing this would happen, and she searched for Lion when she saw Beryl seated on a rock alone further away from the others.

Amethyst grew cold as she remembered what'd happened, slowly making her way to Beryl, unsure of what to say to him. "Leave me alone, Amethyst." Beryl said without turning.

Amethyst tried to speak, but hesitated, moving up and sitting beside him. "… I'm sorry about what I said earlier, I wasn't thinking about you at all."

Beryl looked at her then turned to the trees up ahead. "It'd been a couple years, couple years since I met Tanzanite." He huffed, holding back tears. "We were on a mission, had just reunited with 8XJ, 8XL and 8XG, and we were going strong; the Famethyst had never been better. She and I were scouts and we spent a lot of time together … she was stubborn, had a dry sense of humor, but she understood me more than anyone else did." He sighed shakily. "I should have listened to you."

"No, I don't deserve any credit; I didn't even try to help you guys and I was just hung up that you were with someone else. " She said. "I'm sorry about what happened."

"We can't change fate now can we?" He replied. "We made our decisions and suffered the consequences."

She sighed. "Yeah." She sat back and looked at the stars above. "This shit never stops, does it? No matter how far we come, there's always something to lose; what fucking bullshit."

"Yeah." He chuckled wistfully.

"I honestly don't remember much about our time together outside of fucking honestly." She said. "I somehow convinced myself that we had a lot 'cause I stayed with you the longest, but I still used you like I used everyone else before and after. You deserve better than me."

Beryl mulled this over and looked to the others. "I guess this's all over now …"

"No, it's not over." Amethyst turned to him. "We lost our friends along the way and lost our armies to, but as long as we're alive there's still a chance." She held his hand. "We'll win against the Diamonds, one way or another."

Beryl hesitated, but smiled slightly. "Yeah, you're right."

"Great." Amethyst stood up. "Now let's find this Zenoth guy."

* * *

MEANWHILE IN the Hidden Leaf Village, Sumiko stared blindly into the soup pot as she stirred it over the fire in her family's home, her eyes glazed as her mind went blank. She warred with whispers in her head that came and went, struggling to hear what they were saying though at odds with how they felt familiar yet new all at once. She continued stirring absentmindedly when she heard a loud crash that jolted her out of her daze, seeing the food spilled all over the floor before her.

"Sumiko, are you okay?" The blue-haired girl cried as she rushed into the room. "What happened?"

"I …" Sumiko blinked and looked at her hand, seeing a burn from where the soup had spilled. "What's going on?"

"Ya daydreaming again?" Her pink-haired sister said as she stood at the entrance of the room. "Why do we let you cook exactly?"

"Hey, she's done this many times before." The blue-haired girl said.

"Well, she's clearly getting worse." The pink-haired girl said. "I mean shit; I obsess over boys sometimes, but this shit's ridiculous. Heh, guess drooling over other bitches is different, huh?"

"Stop it, you're not helping!" The blue-haired girl frowned as she tended to her wound.

"I'm sorry, I'll clean this up." Sumiko stood up.

"No, no, I'll take care of this." The blue-haired girl said. "You should get that burn treated."

Sumiko looked at her hand and grimaced as she felt pain in her head instead, heading out the door and passed the pink-haired girl. "Hey, Sumiko, don't stress about it, alright? I'm just messing with ya; you'll be fine." She said as she left the room.

Sumiko made her way down the halls and squinted as she didn't feel any pain from her burn at all. She raised her brow and entered a room were her mother was setting dinner. "Sumiko, come help me prepare for dinner, okay?" Her mother said.

Nodding, she moved up to the mat and started arranging the bowls around, hesitating as she picked the fourth plate. "He'll be back, Sumiko, don't worry." Her mother said with a soft smile, noticing the scald on her hand. "What happened?"

"I was cooking and …" Sumiko frowned as she failed to finish her sentence.

"Sumiko, this's the fourth time this's happened." Her mother said. "Is something wrong? You can talk to me about it." She sighed as Sumiko remained silent and she offered a smile. "I'll be here whenever you're ready to talk, okay? If something's bothering you, I'll be here to listen."

Sumiko nodded slightly, not fully listening to her, when a scream cut their conversation short and the two jerked up. "Your sisters!" Sumiko's mother realized

"Do you really think it's wise to just barge in? We're supposed to be stealthy about this." A man's voice came from outside.

"Well, we fucked up the operation, so there's no point anymore." A second man said.

"You mean **_you_** fucked up, dipshit!"

Sumiko and her mother quickly rose to their feet as two of Harumi's ninja broke their door down and her mother's face went pale as she saw a man's severed head hanging from one of the men's belts. "Dad …?" Sumiko finally spoke.

"Ugh, I told you to put that away!" The first ninja said.

"Hey, Harumi said she wanted the eyes of a Uchiha and I'm not gonna carry a body around all day." The second ninja said. "And if those of a dead man won't do, we should bring of them alive."

Sumiko's mother screamed in horror and the second ninja pinned her down and put a hand over her mouth in a split second! "Mom!" Sumiko cried when the first ninja bound her as well.

"Shh, this'll be painless." The first ninja said.

"It's just as we thought," The second ninja said, looking into Sumiko's mother's eyes. "They haven't awakened their eyes; only the father has."

"What do you mean?" The first frowned.

"He's right, neither have these two." A third ninja said as he and another arrived dragging in the blue and pink-haired girls both of whom they'd gagged.

"Let go of them!" Sumiko's mother cried.

"Now, what'd I say about talking?" The second ninja held Sumiko's mother by her neck, turning to the first ninja. "So, what do we do now? They should have awakened their Sharingan by now. Are they late bloomers or something?"

"Seeing the head of a family member should be traumatizing enough to awaken the eyes." The first ninja said, thinking for a bit. "Well, since we've got what we wanted anyway." He turned to Sumiko with a sadistic grin. "We can have a bit of fun here."

Sumiko raised her brow in confusion when the second ninja drew out a kunai and stabbed her mother's neck! "Mom!" She screamed when the first ninja pinned her back against a wall.

Sumiko struggled and watched in horror as the other ninja forced her sisters on the floor and began ripping their clothes off, overwhelming the girls who had nowhere to run! She was forced to watch helplessly as the two men forced themselves on the girls in front of her, their screams piercing the night air as they were brutally raped. Tears ran down her cheeks as she witnessed the terrible display when her eyes began to transform, her pupils becoming red and forming a black marking as her Sharingan opened!

"Wait, wait!" The first ninja yelled at the others. "Her eyes have awoken."

The ninja stared at Sumiko, cautiously rising to their feet and backing away from her, and she became confused as to why their demeanor suddenly changed. Seeing that nothing happened, the first ninja ginned and punched her to the ground, knocking her out cold.

* * *

RUBY STARED at Bismuth as she walked ahead of her while levitating Nalar's slowly reforming body inside a healing bubble, wondering where she had been this whole time. She tried to speak, having walked for some time in silence when they made their way up to a small red hut that sat in the middle of the desert on its own. "I'm sure this's where Nalar was bringing you." Bismuth said. "Welcome to Sphalerite's home."

Holding the beaded curtain at the entrance aside, Bismuth led Ruby into the small building that was surprisingly larger on the inside than it appeared. Ruby looked in awe at the many ornaments and trinkets that hang up on the wall along with several books and strange vials that were set in a circle beneath a levitating book at the center of the room. She froze in place as she saw a large skull-shaped specter that hovered overhead, paying no heed to her and Bismuth, and she backed up in surprise when she bumped into someone behind her.

"Hey, what're you doing in my house?" A ruby woman with long flowing white hair said as she entered the room after them.

"I, uh –,"

"Nalar!" The woman interrupted Ruby and held her hand up, directing the bubble he was held in onto a nearby stone slab that lit up with magical symbols as she set him down. "What happened?" She turned to Bismuth.

"I found them being attacked by Mosslings, but I was late." Bismuth replied. "I can still sense his energy, but it's very faint."

"I need to work on him quickly." The ruby woman said, channeling energy through her palms and placing them on the healing sphere Nalar was in, shifting the energies within and slowly reconstructing his body. "This fool, if he'd come to me sooner, I'd have freed him from his gemstone constraints."

"You're Sphalerite?" Ruby asked, walking up to the woman.

Sphalerite turned to her, scrutinizing her from head to toe. "Hmm, Nalar doesn't have many male friends, huh? Just one girl after another." She continued attending to Nalar, confusing Ruby with her comment.

"Sphalerite was a mage under Blue Diamond who fled Region Blue after discovering a way of separating a gem from their gemstone." Bismuth said, turning to Ruby. "I volunteering a couple years ago after we crossed paths and I'm free now." She pulled down her collar, revealing that her gemstone was now gone!

"How's that possible?" Ruby said. "A gemstone's the center of our life force we can't just live without it; look at Nalar!"

"Gems are a synthetic creation by the Diamonds and the gemstones corrupted our bodies down to our very cells." Sphalerite said. "We weren't always gems."

"What?"

"We were all captured from different worlds and brought to the Diamonds' Home Worlds to be transformed into their slave race." Bismuth said. "We all had our own identities; Xandarian, Terran, Vulcan, Thanagarian, and they took it all away from us."

Ruby squinted as she tried to process this, looking at the gemstone in her palm and slumping on a chair nearby, dumbfounded. "… I'm not from Home World?"

"None of us were." Sphalerite said. "But that information won't help the Crystal Gems defeat the Diamonds, nothing will."

"Wait, you're just gonna give up?"

"The Diamonds are only getting stronger by the minute and they'll destroy all of Region Pink now that Black Diamond is awakened." Sphalerite said. "If we can get off-world before it's all over then we can save ourselves."

"I can't have come this far just to give up like this." Ruby said. "There has to be something we can do."

Sphalerite paused and looked at Nalar as she finished reconstructing his face, smiling slightly. "He must've seen something special in you to push himself this far after all this." Duplicating herself, she left an ethereal clone attending to Nalar and walked up to some scrolls, turning back to Ruby. "Maybe we have a chance to defeat the Diamonds, now that you're here."

* * *

ZENOTH STOOD at the edge of the forest outside Region White's capital and stared at the city, his mind plagued with worries as to what the Famethyst's next action was. It was his fault, he knew it; his carelessness and pride drove him to act without thinking and now he'd lost a good chunk of his forces, his friends among them. He stepped back into the woods and tried to think when he suddenly saw the color drain from the world around him, bringing a frown to his face as he felt an all too familiar presence.

"Lucifer." A male voice mockingly called.

"Don't call me that." Zenoth snapped back.

"Oh, what, you don't like the name I gave you?" A bright light appeared behind Zenoth and out of it came a tall, glowing, three-eyed yellow-skinned man clad in a black suit and coat embellished with a constellation pattern. Conjuring a staff, the being gleamed and floated into the air, looking at the planet around him. "I haven't been here in a while; I like what the women have done with the place."

"What are you doing here, Cipher? I don't need your help." Zenoth said.

"I think you do." Bill turned to him. "That fight was embarrassing – after all that training, you just let Gold disgrace you like that?"

"Get out of my head!" Zenoth yelled.

"Oh, but I'm a part of you, you know that." Bill moved up to him. "If you want to achieve anything, you can't do it without using your full power!" Zenoth hesitated and Bill smiled, swerving around him. "You've lost friends and over half of your forces are gone while the women just get stronger; you need me."

"I said get out!" Zenoth drew his sword and Bill Cipher vanished with a laugh.

Zenoth panted and looked around when he saw Amethyst, Beryl and Lion walking up to him. "Is something wrong?" Beryl asked.

"No, I …" Zenoth sheathed his sword, moving up to them. "Tell the others to regroup; we need to figure out a new plan to take out the Diamonds."

"We can't do that right now." Beryl said. "We'll need to pull back."

"What?" Zenoth said, failing to cover his anger.

"We lost a lot of our men and the rest are trying to heal." Beryl said. "We lost, Zenoth – let's regain our strength and live to fight another day."

Zenoth sighed and looked at the rest of the Famethyst who were sitting in an opening further away from them. "You're right, we should leave for now."

Zenoth walked off and Beryl followed him, leaving Amethyst behind as she looked at the city for a moment. "Wait." She turned to them. "I think I'm sensing something."

"What?" Beryl asked.

"It's Lapis and Sapphire, they're in the city!" Amethyst said with a smile.

"Lapis? You mean one of White Diamond's commanders?" Zenoth asked.

"It's a long story, but I'm sure it's them." Amethyst said. "If we can find them and the other Crystal Gems, we can have a chance to take out Yellow Diamond."

Zenoth smiled. "Let's do it."

* * *

ON DRAGONBLOOM, Helio looked around in awe as the lava bursting from the ground began to recede on its own, along with the fissures that tore the planet apart! He moved around Black Mount and saw Jasper carrying Blood in her arms. "You found him!" He quickly ran up to him. "Is he alright?"

"He's more than alright; his powers have awakened." Jasper said. "He's the one who slowed down the planet's destruction!"

Helio looked at Blood in surprise, smiling as the infant held his hand out to him. "Well, I guess you're special after all."

Helio reached out to Blood when the earth rumbled and he looked around to see a piece of the ground break off beneath him and Jasper and levitate them toward Black Mount. "I guess we don't have to walk up to the summit anymore." Jasper said, gaining a chuckle from Helio.

Guiding the rock beneath them, Blood levitated the trio toward the summit, setting them down and leaving them on the mountain near its peak. Looking to the top of the mountain, Jasper thought for a moment and handed Blood to Helio, stepping away from them. "Wait here for me."

"Alright." Helio said, curious as to what she was doing.

Walking away from the two, Jasper made her way to the top of Black Mount and she hesitated at the last steps of the path, feeling her father's presence more clearly than before. Huffing, she walked up to the top and saw a large 40-foot tall black dragon seated on the rocks and looking off to the sunset, bringing a smile of relief to her as she knew he was still alive.

Her smile died however as she realized that he was much smaller than before, making her hesitant as she approached him. "Jasper, you finally arrived." Elder Dragon said, not turning to her. "It's been so long."

"Elder, I …" Jasper tried to speak when she saw more bodies of dragons down in the valley below, steeling herself as she moved up to his side. "What happened to them?"

The Elder sighed. "When realities began to merge years ago, it destabilized the cosmos in many ways, but I couldn't have foreseen this."

"The planet's decay …" Jasper realized.

"Our life force is tied to the cosmic energies of the multiverse and if it's corrupted, it affects us as well." The Elder explained. "I'm the only survivor in Dragonbloom."

Jasper tried to speak when the Elder Dragon interrupted her. "You seek my power to defeat the Diamonds now that your armies are gone." He said.

Jasper nodded, having let him read her mind. "It's our only hope to save Home World now; we can't defeat the Diamonds on our own."

"I won't help you."

"What? The Diamonds are destroying Home World as we speak, we have to stop this!" Jasper said.

"I already know that, but I won't help you because you don't want to save Home World from the Diamonds." The Elder said. "You never have."

* * *

IN REGION Pink, Ruby rose from her seat in Sphalerite's hut, looking at the white-haired woman in confusion. "What're you talking about? How does me being here change anything?"

"The Crystal Gems can't fight the Diamonds, no gem can." Sphalerite began. "Our gemstones allow the Diamonds to control our minds and bodies and we'll be rendered useless if we try to engage them."

"So, we can't fight them no matter what?"

"Only if we have our gemstones." Sphalerite said. "I can't completely reverse gemification, but if I take out your gems, you'll be free from the Diamonds – essentially, you'll no longer be a gem."

Ruby thought a little bit and looked to Bismuth then back at Sphalerite. "… I've hated my life ever since I woke up here; all I've had is pain and misery and everyone looking down on me just because I was a ruby. But if I never was a ruby, I'd have never met the Crystal Gems or Sapphire … or Nalar." She looked to the ruby with a smile as his body was fully reconstructed then turned back to Sphalerite. "I'm a gem whether I like it or not, and we'll defeat the Diamonds as gems."

Sphalerite huffed. "Well, I guess it'll take a while before I have another candidate to experiment on, but take this with you then." She picked up a scroll and handed it to her. "It's a spell for Gem Sealing; it should distort the Diamonds' magic and stop them from being able to control you."

Ruby received the scrolls, looking at the symbols on its cover, and she tried to speak when she heard a grunt from behind her, looking back to see Nalar coming to! "Nalar?"

"Ugh, what happened?" Nalar rubbed his head in pain as he sat up, jerking back as he realized he had both eyes! "What the?" Nalar began to panic when Ruby kissed him, stunning him.

"Well, that's new." Bismuth said.

"What's going on here?" Nalar asked.

"I brought you here and we found Sphalerite." Ruby said then smirked, holding up the scrolls. "Now, I need you to return the favor."

* * *

SUMIKO GROANED as she awoke in Harumi's secret lab on the outskirts of the Hidden Leaf Village on earth, panicking as she realized she was gagged and strapped to a table. She looked around and the different magical charts on the walls and scrolls and vials on working desks around her and she let out a muffled scream as she saw her sisters bound to other tables like she was.

She heard a door creak open to her left and saw Harumi enter the room. "Those worthless bastards!" The woman screamed, knocking over scrolls on a table. "After years of searching and planning, they bring me three girls with underdeveloped Sharingan!" She took a deep breath and calmed herself.

Moving over to Sumiko, Harumi held the pink-haired girl's eyes open, studying her pupils. "At least you have two tomoe in one eye, but this won't do." She looked around and flipped open a book. "I guess I'll have to try to accelerate your development and since I have three tries, I can try out a technique I invented." She smirked, drawing out a large knife and moving up to Sumiko who thrashed about as she drew closer. "Don't worry, I'll make sure this hurts."

Harumi plunged the blade into Sumiko's stomach and turned it, enjoying her screams as she slowly drew it out, tearing off bits of flesh in the knife's grooves! Sumiko quickly lost consciousness as the pain overwhelmed her and Harumi stood over her, glancing at her sisters and smiling as they were horrified at the sight of this.

Time went by as Harumi carried out her brutal experiments on Sumiko, slowly losing interest in its progress as she only managed to activate the second tomoe after months of ritual torture. Sumiko spent her days in and out of consciousness as she was tortured and starved by Harumi, and she became more or less of another trinket in her lab as she was held in there for nearly a year. As she was there, she overheard the woman's plans to collect Gaia Energy, though she never understood what any of it meant.

One day, Harumi and her men took Sumiko to a strange temple far from the Hidden Leaf along with several captives from different villages. Brought inside the structure, Sumiko witnessed a gruesome ceremony as Harumi drained the blood of the villagers into nine bowls set up before the statue of a woman's head and stood before it with arms held out as strange vines crept out of the ground and wrapped around her. A bright light shone out of her and she stepped forth, completely transformed into a 30-foot giant with a glowing body!

"I've finally done it! I've achieved the power of a god!" Harumi cried in excitement, holding out her hand and drawing Sumiko to her telepathically. "Are you not happy for me, my pet?" She laughed. "Since I like you and your sisters, I'll take you with me."

"You'll take them? Where'll you be going?" The first ninja asked.

"I no longer have use for you." Harumi clenched her fist and crushed his body to bits, terrifying Sumiko. "Let's go, little one." She smiled and vanished.

* * *

YEARS LATER on Home World, Harumi appeared before Blue Diamond's palace with Sumiko and her sisters held in floating pods behind her, immediately alerting the gem guards who drew their weapons on her. She smiled as they drew closer, completely ignoring them, and she looked forward to see Blue Diamond emerging from the palace and studying her as she approached.

"You must be Blue Diamond, I finally found you." Harumi said.

"Who are you?" Blue Diamond said. "For you to have gone past all our defenses, you must be incredibly strong."

"I've searched far and wide to find this place so I could join your ranks." Harumi explained.

"You want to join us?"

"I learned to tap into the primordial energies of my planet Terra and attained godhood." Harumi said. "With my knowledge and power I've attained travelling the universe, I am the perfect candidate to become a Diamond."

Blue Diamond chuckled. "You presume too much, but I like your boldness; you clearly possess the strength you boast of." She studied her. "If you impress the others as you have with me, we can make you one of us." She looked at the girls. "What are those things?"

"They're slaves I've come to grow fond of, especially this one." She pointed at Sumiko. "I never learned its name, so I call it 'Pearl'."

Blue Diamond smiled. "Then come and meet the others, Pink Diamond."

* * *

IN THE PRESENT, Pearl gasped and collapsed on the ground in Region Pink, looking around and regaining her bearings as she saw Connie surrounded by gem guards. She slowly rose as she tried to recollect herself and she turned to see Pink Diamond before her, becoming furious. "Harumi!" She conjured a spear and took a fighting stance.

"Huh, I haven't heard that name in millennia." Pink Diamond said. "I must have accidentally rebooted your gemstone when that putrid Terran attacked me."

"You piece of shit, you took everything from me!" Pearl frowned. "My family –," She finally realized. "Blue and Pink Pearl!"

"Your family, what're you talking about?" Connie asked.

"Oh, what are those two up to anyway? I heard Blue Diamond got bored of them and cast them out into the Slave Village." Pink Diamond said. "You should be able to find them, if the Moss haven't gotten there already."

Pink Diamond burst out in laughter and Pearl fell to her knees as she realized what happened, not hearing Connie as she called for help as the gem guards attacked her.


	7. Connie's Sword 1

**Connie's Sword**

PEARL EYES were set low to the ground outside the Black Tower in Region Pink's capital when it came washing over her; the realization of what had happened to her family - to Pink and Blue Pearl – and who she once was before she was a gem. These thoughts consumed her mind, blocking out Connie calling out to her as she defended herself against Pink Diamond's guards that surrounded her.

"I must say, it's impressive how quickly you escaped my psychic hold on you, Pearl." Pink Diamond said, walking up to the Gem. "And you've finally awakened your Sharingan after all this time. You really were a slow one."

"How many more were there? How many Terrans did you turn into gems?" Pearl asked, not looking at Pink Diamond.

"Hmm, aside from the Amethysts, I'm not sure how many other Terrans we turned." Pink Diamond turned to the townspeople in the distance. "We needed many species to experiment on when creating gems and I never kept track honestly. You'd have to ask White Diamond for that one."

"Amethyst's a human too?" Pearl's said under her breath.

"Well, I think we've had enough reminiscing for one day." Pink Diamond said. "I'll be taking your eyes Pearl, along with my old apprentice's weapon." She pointed at Connie.

Connie locked blades with a gem guard and looked at her sword as she heard Pink Diamond. "Rose worked for you?"

* * *

LAPIS WATCHED White Diamond as she descended to the lower platform in the Lazuli assembly lab in Region White's capital, struggling to hide her rage as the Diamond moved up to an Agate who supervised operations in the facility. Sapphire stared at the Diamond as well then turned her focus to Lapis as she saw her slowly transform from an Agate back to her normal form, compromising her disguise.

"Lapis, calm down; you're blowing your cover." Sapphire said to her telepathically, but the gem ignored her. "Lapis!"

White Diamond looked over the biometric scans of the Lazuli androids with two Agate scientists on a screen nearby when she began to feel a familiar presence nearby, turning around to see Lapis glaring at her alongside Sapphire who was still under disguise. "Why is that Lazuli already active?" White Diamond asked her Agates.

"What do you mean, Lord Diamond?" An Agate beside her asked then raised her brow in surprise as she saw Lapis, checking her computer then becoming puzzled. "T-that's not one of ours."

"Not one of ours …?" White Diamond said then frowned as she remembered. "Lapis!"

"So, this's what you meant by artificial gems? You're creating more gems like me!" Lapis yelled.

"Lapis, stop." Sapphire said.

White Diamond stared at Lapis blankly, barely listening to her then she squinted at Sapphire as she shed her guise accidentally, sensing her familiar energy. "Blue Diamond?"

Finally losing it, Lapis thrust her arm at White Diamond, blasting her with a wave of water that smashed her against a nearby wall and pinned her back! The Agates in the lab began to panic, some of them reaching for emergency alarms, and Sapphire reacted quickly, conjuring a massive vortex of water around her that tore through the lab and broke through the surrounding walls.

Sapphire panted and looked at the Agates that were now buried in the rubble and turned to White Diamond who was held down by Lapis, shaking her head. "I didn't want to do this without finding the others first, but I guess I don't have a choice now." Sapphire turned back to her normal form and levitated into the air. "Let's kill this bitch."

White Diamond chuckled. "So, this's what Blue Diamond hid from us, huh? You're her child, Sapphire."

"Took you long enough." Sapphire said.

"Well, well, I'll have to take it up with her after I'm done here." White Diamond said.

"Enough!" Lapis cried and bashed White Diamond through the wall, flying after her and punching her into the next room!

White Diamond crashed against the floor in the adjoining lab and landed smack against a wall, blankly staring at Lapis and Sapphire as they charged after her. The two Gems engaged the Diamond and tore further into the building, failing to notice the ceiling collapsing behind them and smashing onto two containment pods in the other corner of the room. Caulifla groaned as she rose from her chamber that came open and she looked on in confusion as Sapphire, Lapis and White Diamond. Turning to her left, she saw Kale still unconscious in her pod and she quickly got up and picked her out of it.

* * *

CONNIE FROZE in surprise upon hearing Pink Diamond's words, turning back to the Diamond. "Rose was your apprentice?"

"Ah, and the best one I had too." Pink Diamond said, looking to the sky above. "Years ago, I felt her energy spread across the galaxy like a fire; it was truly terrifying. It was far stronger than anything I had felt in a long time and as quickly as it sprung up, it vanished." She turned to Pearl and Connie. "I suppose I have you Crystal Gems to thank, don't I? If you hadn't defeated Rose before she fully ascended, she would have surely killed me, White, Yellow and Blue Diamond quite easily."

Pearl gritted her teeth in anger, remembering her last moments with Rose on earth, and Pink Diamond moved up to her. "Now, now, don't despair." Pink Diamond said. "I'll be sure to make your deaths swift."

Pink Diamond clenched her fist and drew Pearl toward her, strangling her telekinetically, and Pearl quickly summoned a clone that charged at the Diamond from behind! Pearl's doppelganger swung her sword at Pink Diamond's neck when she suddenly fell over and collapsed on the sand below. Pearl coughed as she slowly got to her feet, confused as to what had happened and she looked around her.

"What the hell?" Pearl said as she and her clone stood on the beach outside the temple in Beach City!

* * *

IN REGION White during Sapphire, Lapis and White Diamond's fight, Sapphire shot ice at White Diamond's feet and bound her to the floor, allowing Lapis to smack her down with a massive water whip, crashing her into the concrete! The dust from the collision slowly settled and Sapphire and Lapis approached the giant goddess, confused as she lay there amongst the rubble.

"Something's not right here." Sapphire said.

"I know, right?" Lapis said. "If any of the Crystal Gems could take on a Diamond, it'd be us, but –,"

"This's too easy." Sapphire frowned.

White Diamond blinked as she finally noticed the ceiling falling apart and she turned her head lazily to the other end of the room, seeing Kale and Caulifla's containment pods empty. "Hmm …"

"Hey!" Sapphire walked onto the Diamond's chest, the five-foot-six tall woman looking tiny atop the thirty-foot giant. "What's your game here, White Diamond?"

"So, the Moss have completed their extermination of Region Pink's slaves already; impressive." White Diamond said to herself, completely ignoring Sapphire.

"What?"

"I have work to do." White Diamond said.

"What're you talking about?" Sapphire asked when the giant slowly began to vanish!

"No, you're not getting away from us!" Lapis yelled, conjuring up water for an attack, but the Diamond disappeared!

Sapphire floated above the floor, stunned as the goddess completely escaped them, and she turned to Lapis who screamed in rage. "Lapis, calm down."

"No, no, no! She can't get away!" Lapis ran out of the room.

"Lapis, stop, you don't even know where she went!" Sapphire chased after her.

Lapis headed for the door at the other end of the room when a pink portal opened before her, letting out Lion, Amethyst, and Zenoth as they came through the gateway from the city outskirts! "Amethyst?" Lapis said as she came to a stop.

"Lion, Amethyst!" Sapphire said excitedly when she laid her eyes on Zenoth, a sense of dread consuming her as she sensed his energy and kept her distance.

"I knew you were both here!" Amethyst smiled at Lapis then saw Sapphire remaining behind. "Sapphire?"

* * *

PEARL LOOKED around with eyes wide in surprise, the sounds of crashing waters and heat of the sun washing over her as she took in Beach City's surroundings. The Temple stood tall on the face of the mountain as it always did and she could faintly hear Rose and the others laughing inside – it was almost like she never left.

"So, this's where Rose made a home for herself." Pink Diamond said as she slowly materialized beside her, much smaller than her normal form, moving up to the Temple and observing the building. "She was a brilliant craftsman."

"Yes, she was …" Pearl smiled slightly.

"You and I both loved her when she was alive." Pink Diamond turned to Pearl. "She may be gone, but I'm still here; we can return things back to the way they used to be, just you and me."

"But, what about Steven and the others." Pearl looked to the Temple nearby, still hearing their voices inside. "What would they think if they knew about us and Rose …"

"They don't have to know; it doesn't matter what they think." Pink Diamond moved up to her, sensing the pale woman's discomfort. "Pearl, look at me." She turned the Gem to her. "If it means so much to you, then we'll tell them together, alright? There'll be nothing to worry about."

Pearl hesitated. "Are you sure?"

Pearl looked into Pink Diamond's eyes, her heart pounding as she got lost in them, and the taller woman moved in to kiss her. Their lips locked and the two women held each other in a loving embrace, Pearl all the while failing to notice a black mass moving over the sand and spreading toward her feet.


	8. Connie's Sword 2

IN REGION Pink, Pearl grunted as she lay unconscious on the ground at Pink Diamond's feet, the goddess eyeing her with a mixture of lust and malice. Connie cut down the last of Pink Diamond's guards that attacked her and she dashed to Pearl's rescue when Pink Diamond blew her back telekinetically with the flick of her wrist, sending her tumbling on the ground.

"Tsk, you lowly mortals never know your place." Pink Diamond said, moving up to Connie.

"I won't let you kill her." Connie said as she pushed herself up, hissing as she'd cut her elbow when she fell.

"I wonder why you Crystal Gems came here in the first place." Pink Diamond said. "Even if you somehow found a way to kill Rose, you cannot fight a Diamond because all gems are under our control. Even stranger is why you'd keep Rose's sword; I thought you were no longer allies."

Connie squinted and looked at Rose's sword, sensing the Gaia Energy flowing through the blade and she considered what Pink Diamond said. "I heard many stories of how Rose risked her life to save countless others with this sword and how she fought Home World so one day all gems could be freed." She clenched Rose's sword and looked to Pink Diamond. "Even if that goal drove her to become a monster, I won't let it die with her. This is my sword now and Rose's dream will live on with me!"

Connie took a stance and faced down Pink Diamond when a bright light suddenly emanated from the sword and vines grew out from its hilt and spread over her arm and dug into her skin. She held up the weapon and watched in awe as Rose's sword merged with her!

* * *

PEARL LAUGHED as she sat in the Temple living room with Pink Diamond, Rose, Garnet and Amethyst while Steven sat up in his room nearby. The five women chattered excitedly in the room, not noticing another Pearl who materialized by the entrance of the house and watched them. She looked as the first Pearl spoke to the other Gems and the Diamond, finally piecing together what was happening.

"I never let go of her, did I?" Pearl said, looking at her younger self in the living room. "I broke free from her, but I was still bound to her in my mind." She looked at Rose. "Or I just went from one master to another."

"Is this where you were all this time?" Pink Diamond's voice came as she appeared beside her, only partly standing in the room as the rest of her thirty-foot form phased through the roof above. "What a disgusting place to call home." She said as she stared at Pearl's memories from above, seeing her younger self sitting among the Crystal Gems. "What is this?"

"It's what I wanted back then I guess; to be with the two women I loved and to never have been part of the war in the first place." Pearl said. "I didn't want to accept the truth that you were abusing me, nor did I realize that Rose continued to do the same. I guess I had to see for myself who you truly were."

"How unfortunate." Pink Diamond shrank down until she was ten feet tall, looking around the room. "I didn't even like you all that much, and Rose was more sexually talented than you were."

"Yeah, you can put it like that ..." Pearl said.

"It seems accidentally resetting your gemstone tampered with your Sharingan." Pink Diamond crossed her arms. "I didn't plan on entering your memories."

"You didn't come here by accident." Pearl said. "I brought you here so I could kill you by my own hand."

"Kill me?" Pink Diamond chuckled. "You have no power to do so and I can leave this place any time I want." She snapped her fingers and raised her brow as nothing happened. "What is this?"

"We're not in my memories exactly." Pearl said and turned to her, conjuring her spear. "This is the Mirror Dimension and in here, your power doesn't matter."

[*A/N - If you're lost about the Mirror Dimension, refer to Steven Universe: Shattered II Chapter 4]

Pink Diamond became puzzled then got startled as everything around them began to shift and reflect off each other like it were glass. Pearl awakened her Sharingan, using her forehead gemstone as a third eye, and dashed at Pink Diamond, sliding over the floor like water. Pink Diamond erected a force field before her as the Gem came at her, but Pearl cut through it with her spear and stabbed her in the chest!

"The Mirror Dimension." Pink Diamond said as blood came down from her lip. "Blue Diamond always babbled about it during her travels, but I paid no attention to her. I guess it's real after all." She cupped her hand around Pearl's head, smiling as Pearl remained silent. "I'm at least happy I got to see how much you'd grown since I took you – my work wasn't in vain after all."

Pearl paused for a moment then dislodged her spear from Pink Diamond, letting her fall to the floor, and she turned back to the living room. She frowned as she saw Garnet, Amethyst, Rose and her past self lying dead at the feet of young Pink Diamond whose hands were drenched in their blood. Pearl glanced back and saw Pink Diamond's body disintegrate behind her and she turned to young Pink Diamond.

"If only it were that easy." Pearl said, taking a fighting stance.

Smirking, Pink Diamond flew toward Pearl and clashed with her blade using her forearm, the collision sending ripples through the realm that caused the Temple to rip apart like paper! The two women exchanged rapid blows, Pearl trying to cut the Diamond down with her weapon and Pink Diamond deflecting her strikes telepathically, and Pink Diamond got the upper hand, firing a psionic wave at Pearl's leg and ripping it in half!

Pearl looked down as her leg split in two and before she could react, Pink Diamond backhanded her, sending her flying back and smashing into a wall nearby! Pink Diamond ran toward her when the floor beneath her suddenly began to rumble and break apart, revealing a giant stone hand that grabbed her and punched her out through the Temple walls and into the ocean outside! Pink Diamond steadied herself underwater and looked up to see the Temple's statue alive and coming down to attack her!

Reacting quickly, she thrust her hand forth and created giant swirls of energy around the statue, disintegrating it and revealing Pearl who burst from its insides and dove down at her. Pearl drove her sword toward Pink Diamond and the blade suddenly broke apart on contact! She stopped in place, bewildered by what had happened, and was caught off guard as the water around her shifted and transformed into tubes that stabbed her in the back and pulled her further into the ocean.

"Did you really think you could defeat me so easily just because we're in another dimension?" Pink Diamond said, swooping down and grabbing Pearl by her neck. "I'm a master of the Psychic Arts and this is my domain!"

Pearl smiled.

* * *

AMETHYST LOOKED at Sapphire curiously, wondering why she stayed behind. "Sapphire, is something wrong?"

"Amethyst, Lion? How'd you find us?" Lapis asked.

"Well, we crashed outside the city and met Zenoth here who was planning to take out Yellow Diamond." Amethyst said.

"Wait, Yellow Diamond's here?"

"Our information said she'd be meeting with White Diamond here, though I'm sure she would be gone by now." Zenoth said.

"Well, we were just about to take down White Diamond, but she escaped right before you got here." Lapis said.

"Hold up, you actually fought a Diamond?" Beryl said in shock.

"Then we have to move quickly." Zenoth said. "Since we came across Gold Diamond a while ago, White Diamond will want to report this to Blue Diamond. If we get there in time before their soldiers are scrambled out, we might still have a chance to take the fight to them."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I was thinking of facing White Diamond if we teamed up with Sapphire and Lapis, but both her and Blue? There's no way we'd stand a chance!" Amethyst said.

"She's right." Beryl said. "And let's not forget that Gold Diamond took us out without breaking a sweat; we'd be committing suicide here."

"Do you have a better plan? If we wait any longer, the entire planetary guard will be on high alert and they'll pick us off one by one." Zenoth said.

"You're Zenoth, right?" Sapphire finally spoke.

"Yes." Zenoth turned to her. "Why do you ask?"

"Who are you exactly?"

Zenoth hesitated and Amethyst stepped forward. "He's a gem who helped reform the Famethyst – ooh! You've gotta see them; the guys are all back together again!"

Sapphire frowned as she stared at Zenoth, not listening to Amethyst. "You're hiding your energy so nobody else can sense it – it's even better than the way I did it before."

"What're you talking about, Sapphire?" Lapis asked, noticing Zenoth becoming uneasy.

"I sensed it the moment I saw him, but I needed to make sure." Sapphire said. "He's Yellow Diamond's son."

* * *

PINK DIAMOND crushed Pearl's neck while underwater in the Mirror Dimension, waiting to see the Gem's final breaths when she felt sudden force knock her forward and onto the ground! Pink Diamond blinked as she felt the water around her suddenly vanish, looking on the sand below and squinting as she felt blood drip from her lip. She remained puzzled for a moment, wondering what was going on, and she realized her skin was no longer pure pink and that she had shrunk into a human teenager!

She pushed herself up, dumbfounded, and was met with a swift kick to the back, quickly turning around to see that she was in the middle of an alley in the Hidden Leaf Village with three boys standing over her. "Look at this dumb bitch, her fucking face pisses me off." One of the boys said.

"Guys, I think we should go – we don't wanna get caught here." The shortest boy said.

"No, we have to teach this whore Harumi a lesson." The tallest boy said, grabbing young Harumi by her hair. "Weaklings like you can never be ninja, and should learn to fall in line."

The boy smacked Harumi across the face, dropping her back to the floor and she grunted as she met concrete, looking all over to see books she'd dropped before her. She blinked and tried to piece together what was happening, looking around to see that she had ended up in the Academy grounds. She got to her feet and clasped her head, a sharp pain abruptly overcome her, and she turned to see fellow students walk past her and make passing comments.

Harumi tried to get her bearings and walked onward, having a feeling that she was supposed to be doing something else at that moment, when an explosion rattled her out of her thoughts! She turned to her right and found herself in her lab hidden in the woods, seeing pieces of paper and shattered bottles on the floor as a fire started spreading throughout the room. She quickly moved to clear up the mess when she came across a large brown book that caught her eye, getting lost in it as she flipped through.

She read the book eagerly, inside finding notes about chakra's flow through the human body and its applications, and she paced around. She continued to read when she heard voices faintly coming from the hallway outside, squinting as she tried to listen.

"What were you thinking adding a mortal to our ranks?" One female voice said.

"It degrades our status among the gods and you know it! Our name will no longer be respected in the cosmos." Another voice came.

"She may be weaker than us, but she has potential. Once we use her scientific mind to complete our plans, I'll toss her aside." Blue Diamond said then chuckled. "A Terran thinking she can become a goddess."

Pink Diamond stood in place, finally remembering what was happening, and she dropped her book, looking down at the floor. Pearl materialized from the darkness behind her and slowly inched her way in, drawing her sword and moving in for the kill. "Alright, Pearl, just like we planned." She said to herself when she heard Pink Diamond whimpering, realizing that she was crying.

Pink Diamond turned around, wiping tears from her face, and she jerked back as she saw Pearl. "Oh, Pearl, I didn't notice you there." She quickly picked up the book she was reading and put it on a table behind Pearl. "Have you seen Rose anywhere? I've been looking for her."

Pearl watched Pink Diamond in surprise and looked at her own hands, seeing that she had turned back to the old form she had when she was a slave on Home World. Putting her book aside, Pink Diamond moved up to Pearl and held took hold of the collar she had on, rubbing against the fabric. "At least I still have you." Pink Diamond said.

Pearl tried to speak and Pink Diamond pushed her onto a nearby bed before she could, beginning to take off her robes. "At least I know you still love me, my little pearl." She smiled as she tore off the last of her clothes, standing naked before the Gem.

"No, I –," Pearl tried to speak, but her mouth grew shut!

"You too, huh? You want to turn your back on me?!" Pink Diamond yelled, her voice becoming more hoarse.

Pearl began to panic as she felt Pink Diamond's aura rise and her energy spread throughout the room, desperately trying to get away from her. She tried to stand, but slipped as the bed sheets moved and wrapped around her legs, pulling her toward Pink Diamond! Pearl struggled against their hold, her hands getting bound as well, and she tried to activate her Sharingan, but her gemstone cracked instead!

Pink Diamond began to expand and become larger and larger the more she drew Pearl toward her, her body transforming as a pink dress formed over her and she grew two extra arms and eyes! Pearl tugged at the sheets as she fought to break free, feeling her strength wane, and she felt a sharp pain as she felt something move inside her from her legs. Her skin bulged as the movements continued underneath her skin, bursting out as the cloth made its way through her and tore its way out of her neck, holding her down further!

"They all think I'm worthless, they all think nothing of me!" Pink Diamond screamed then looked down at Pearl. "Everyone, but you!" She bent down toward her. "When my Black Towers are complete, I will sap every world until all their power is mine! And when I have your eyes, I'll have their minds as well!" She held Pearl's chin. "And when that day comes, you and I will rule over everything!"

* * *

IN REGION Pink's inner city, Connie swung her sword at Pink Diamond who blocked the blade with her forearm and smacked her aside. Flipping through the air, Connie landed several feet away from the Diamond and channeled Gaia Energy through the sword, sending it at the Diamond in an arc shaped wave that collided with her and exploded! She watched as the dust from the explosion slowly settled and saw Pink Diamond unscathed, quickly taking up a stance when she realized she wasn't moving.

Puzzled, Connie moved up to Pink Diamond and saw that she simply stood there, her eyes having become empty and white. "What the …?"

"Connie …" A faint voice called.

The raven-haired girl turned to see Pearl's clone lying on the ground and weakly reaching out to her. "Pearl?" She moved up to the doppelganger.

"She's dying." The clone said, pointing to Pearl who lay a few feet away from her. "You need to help her."

"What do you mean? What's happening?" Connie asked.

"She tried to break Pink Diamond's mind in the psychic realm to kill her, but she's too strong." The clone said, beginning to disintegrate into dust.

"What do I do? I checked on her and she's not injured and she won't wake up." Connie explained.

"Heal her."

Connie watched as the clone broke down completely and quickly rushed to Pearl's side, seeing a pool of blood collecting around her head and her forehead gemstone falling apart! She tried to compose herself and channeled more of her energy over the Gem, trying to emulate Steven and create a healing sphere over her, but nothing happened. She tried and tried again, only managing to spread particles of energy over her with no effect.

Connie tried to think and began to panic as she heard Pink Diamond starting to stir, looking back at Pearl as the Gem moaned in pain while unconscious. She searched her mind and remembered Mira's words from Oval Town* on earth, looking back at the townspeople who had miraculously not noticed what had been going on this whole time. Sighing, she laid her hands on the ground before her, shut her eyes and breathed slowly, feeling the air around her and digging her fingers into the soil.

[A/N – if you're lost here, refer to Steven Universe – Shattered II – Gaia Chapter 3]

Home World around her became clearer as she waded her way through its energies, feeling a dark cloud of immense pain, sorrow and anguish that filled all corners of the planet almost unendingly. She grit her teeth, quickly being overwhelmed by it all, but slowly gave in to it, becoming one with it all. She breathed slowly and turned to Pearl as she summoned purple tubes of Gaia Energy from the ground, wrapping them around Pearl.

"Come on, Pearl." She said under her breath.

* * *

IN THE Mirror Dimension, Pearl lay limp on the bed before Pink Diamond who shrank down to her level, eyeing the Gem maliciously as the bed sheets dragged her into them and began to swallow her whole. She moved in for a closer look when Pearl leapt forth, ripping herself free of her binds, and lunged at her! Pink Diamond reacted quickly, expecting an attack when the Gem held her and embraced her!

Pink Diamond stopped in her tracks and looked down to Pearl as she hugged her, confusion welling in her. She moved to hold her as well when she felt a sword pierce through her, looking down to see that Pearl had summoned her sword and awoken her Sharingan!

Harumi sighed and fell back to the floor, dislodging herself from the blade and looked around as the room slowly faded away, leaving only her and Sumiko in an empty void. She stared down at her stomach as blood flooded down her dress and she turned to Sumiko who collapsed on her knees in exhaustion, giving a weak smile to her.

"What are you happy about?" Sumiko panted.

"… I don't know." Harumi sighed. "Maybe I just realize that it's all over now."

"Yeah." Sumiko sat down, putting her sword aside. "I guess it is."

Harumi remained silent for a while and leaned back, turning to Sumiko. "Did you ever love either us? Rose and I?"

Pearl paused for a moment. "No." She turned to Pink Diamond. "I thought I did, but … I didn't know what love actually felt like; I just became what you two wanted me to be." She slowly got to her feet. "I don't need you anymore."

Pink Diamond smiled and looked into Pearl's eyes on last time, falling limp before her. Pearl watched this without batting an eye and walked away without looking back.


	9. Jasper

**JASPER**

THREE GIRLS laughed at a young Rose Quartz outside the mess hall of Region Yellow's training grounds 4500 years ago. The pink-skinned girl with a number tattooed on her neck like the others knelt on the ground desperately trying to pick up torn pieces of paper before her, trying and failing to hold back her tears.

"Why do you keep your head in books all day, huh? This's a military camp, not a library." A blue gem among the three said.

"I bet she thinks she's smarter than the rest of us." A big-bodied gem said.

"Yeah, she probably tells herself that since she's such a pathetic fighter."

Rose reached for a paper on the ground and the blue gem fired an energy blast at it before she could get to it, laughing at her as Rose started crying even more. The three girls continued to mock Rose as she scrambled to stop the fire that started when an orange blur swooped into the area and knocked the blue gem down with a powerful force that sent her flying through a wall!

Rising to her feet, a tall orange gem looked at the two girls that harassed Rose and turned to the blue girl sticking out of the wall across from her, enjoying her own handiwork.

"Oh, shit, it's 717." The big-bodied gem said in surprise as she saw Jasper's number, frightened as Jasper turned to Rose.

"I can't leave you alone for a second, now can I?" Jasper said to Rose.

"Look, 717, we were just playing around - we didn't hurt her, we swear!" The big gem said in a panic.

"You were playing, huh?" Jasper clenched her fist, turning to the remaining two gems with a vicious grin. "Mind if I join in then?"

"You bitch!" The blue gem growled as she pulled herself out of the wall. "Who do you think you are!?" She yelled out in rage and blasted a barrage of energy balls at Jasper from her palm.

"I'm the daughter of a White Commander, and you are an insect." Jasper replied blankly.

Moving nonchalantly, Jasper held out her hand as the blasts came her way, huffing then completely absorbing them into her palm! The blue gem recoiled in shock and in a swift motion, Jasper clenched her fist and flicked a finger at her, firing the energy back at her in a volley ten times larger than before!

The blue girl panicked and tried to get out of the way, but was swallowed by the wave of plasma that engulfed her and destroyed the entire mess hall along with her! Jasper watched as the building went up in flames and the other girls ran off in terror, leaving Rose behind.

"Huh, guess I over did it." Jasper blinked and looked at her hand, failing to notice a Commander rush into the area and witness the fire in horror.

"Wha-what the hell is this?!" He exclaimed.

"Ah, shit." Jasper huffed.

* * *

A YELLOW skinned gem, 517, with long flowing pink hair paced around the foyer of her home in Region Yellow's suburbs outside the inner city. She muttered to herself as she tried to piece things together then jolted up as she saw a tall red gem come through the door.

"700, I heard what happened -are Rose and Jasper alright?" 517 walked up to her husband.

"They're more than alright! Jasper got into a fight; blew up the whole mess hall!" 700 replied excitedly.

"Jasper!" 517 scolded. "Rose was being picked on again, what was I supposed to do?" Jasper replied with a shrug.

"It's good that you're looking out for your little sister, but you shouldn't be fighting all the time." 517 moved up to Rose and checked on her. "Are you okay, honey?" Rose smiled to her. "I'm fine, mom; they just messed up my books, that's all."

"Well, I'm proud of you, kid; you're finally growing up." 700 said to Jasper and patted her head. "The key to using your power is harnessing your rage - on Home World, mercy will get you killed." 517 frowned upon hearing him, but he didn't notice. Rising to his feet however, he turned to Rose with a frown. "But, you on the other hand are embarrassing yourself; you're a Quartz, not a worthless pearl – you shouldn't be pushed around like that."

Rose looked away in discomfort and 700 huffed and headed out of the room. "I'll give you special training later this week; you're gonna learn what it means to be a warrior."

517 watched as 700 and Jasper left the room then turned to Rose. "Don't listen to your father, Rose, alright? You should stay as kind as you've always been; don't let Home World's hatred rub off on you." Rose nodded to her.

* * *

JASPER AND ROSE continued their military training under their Commanders in Region Yellow's training camp over the next few years. The two gained a reputation for themselves as they hit their teens, Jasper the feared hothead with great untapped power and Rose the flowering mage with an aptitude for magic. Despite her difficult start at the training camp, Rose's unique skills and unwavering kindness finally gained her favor among her fellow cadets.

One day while they were home on break, a ring came on their front door and 700 opened to find two of Rose and Jasper's Commanders there. "Greetings, Commander 700, are 717 and 726 here?" One of the Commanders asked.

"Yes." 700 said, becoming a little concerned. "What is this about?"

"Yellow Diamond has requested that the two be taken to Region White for experimentation." The Commander said.

"What? Are they being shattered? I thought they were some of your top cadets." 700 said in a panic.

"They are actually our top two and they're the strongest we've had in over a century, so our Lord Diamond would like to figure out why that is the case." The second Commander explained. "You should be honored; if they are shattered or have their gems repurposed, it may be done by Yellow Diamond herself."

"I should be honored?" 700 grew angry.

"Our lives are in service to the Diamonds." The first Commander replied coldly. "To die by their hand is the most honorable gesture they can grace upon us." He looked at 700 curiously. "Are you going to stand in our way?"

700 held his tongue, feeling his blood boil, and Rose came into the foyer behind him. "Oh, Commander, what brings you here?" She asked one of the Commanders and quickly sensed the tension in the air.

One of the Commanders walked up to Rose when suddenly, 700 blasted both of them with a psionic wave from his hand, knocking them out into the driveway. "Dad, what're you doing?!" Rose yelled.

"Tell Yellow Diamond that my daughters aren't going anywhere." 700 frowned.

"You're making a grave mistake here, Commander." One of the Commanders said. "Yellow Diamond will hear of this."

"I know what I'm doing, now leave." 700 frowned.

"Wait, wait, it was just an accident; there's no need to involve her." Rose tried to plead, but the Commanders began to leave, sending murderous glares their way.

Jasper walked into the foyer, having heard the blast, and saw the Commanders walking away. "What's going on here?" She asked.

"He-he just attacked our Commanders." Rose explained shakily. "They're gonna report this to Yellow Diamond."

"What!?"

"I had no choice." 700 turned to Jasper. "Yellow Diamond wants to have you and Rose experimented upon and they said you may get shattered."

"But, why?" Jasper asked.

"Because you two are the best cadets they've had in a long while and they wanted to figure out why." 700 said. "Look, I'll take care of this; you're just gonna have to stay home for a while."

"Dad, if they report your insubordination, we'll all get shattered." Jasper said.

"I said, I'll handle this." 700 reiterated. "My family comes before my loyalty to the Diamonds; I won't let anything happen to either of you." He walked off and Rose and Jasper looked at each other, fearful of what may happen.

* * *

ROSE'S HEART pounded in her ears as her squad's commander walked toward her and moved past her fellow cadets in one of the training camp's main assembly halls a few months later. Everything had progressed like normal when their break was over, much to Rose and Jasper's surprise, and there was no mention of the incident involving their father and the Commanders.

Rose glanced at the Commander as he approached and tensed up, failing to breathe as he drew out a small pin from a box he held in his hand. "And finally, our two star pupils, 717 and 726." The Commander said with a smile. "Not only have you two excelled far beyond the rest of your squad, you have personally been chosen as lieutenants under Pink Diamond herself!"

The Quartzes erupted in applause upon hearing this, watching eagerly as the Commander placed pins on Rose and Jasper's right shoulders. "Pink Diamond?" Jasper said in confusion. "I thought we were training to join Yellow Diamond's forces."

"You were, but Pink Diamond has taken interest in you two, so Yellow Diamond made an exception." The Commander replied though Jasper remained suspicious.

* * *

ROSE AND Jasper returned home after the brief graduation ceremony at the training camp to collect their things as they were expected in Region Pink in a few weeks. As they entered their home however, they were met with surprise as they found 517 in tears in the main living area. "Mom, what's going on?" Jasper asked.

"I …" 517 wiped a tear. "I just got a message from Region White … your father's dead."

"No … no, it can't be." Rose shook her head in disbelief.

"I just read the report: he died while patrolling a nearby Home World colony that was under attack." 517 explained and Rose broke down beside her.

Jasper frowned and tried to take it all in, moving up to 517 and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, mom. At least he died with honor."

"It's all bullshit." 517 said, drying her tears. "It's all bullshit, they're lying."

"What do you mean?" Jasper asked.

"Your father disobeyed a direct order from a Diamond and then he just suddenly dies on the field?" 517 turned to Jasper. "Doesn't that sound suspect to you?"

"These things happen; I've lost friends while at the training camp, it's not out of the ordinary." Jasper said.

"How can you be so cold? This is your father we're talking about!"

"Being emotional won't bring him back, mom, he's gone." Jasper said then walked off. "Rose and I just came back to get our things – we're being sent to Region Pink in a few weeks." 517 remained behind and watched her leave in shock.

* * *

ROSE LOOKED around as she stepped out of an airship and into the inner city of Region Pink alongside Jasper, taking in the dilapidated scenery and becoming slightly puzzled at it. Jasper noticed it as well and was about to make a comment when a pale-skinned pearl came up to them and curtsied. "Welcome to Region Pink, Lieutenant 717 and 726, Pink Diamond awaits you in her laboratory." Pearl gestured to the Black Tower nearby.

"There's no need to grovel; I'm an ordinary gem just like you." Rose said.

"No, you're not; she's worthless trash." Jasper scoffed and walked toward the Black Tower. Rose frowned at this and followed her reluctantly, glancing back and noticing Pearl eyeing her from behind though she paid no mind.

Entering the building, the two were met with an intense feeling of hate and malice emanating from the black walls around them unlike anything they'd felt before. Rose heard many whispers from all around her and quickly became uncomfortable, but Jasper simply ignored it, walking further ahead of the two. As they made their way down the halls however, Pearl struggled to keep her cool as she walked beside Rose; the tall beautiful woman's presence and magical aura overwhelming her.

Making a turn to her right, Jasper came up to a chrome door and felt a powerful energy coming from the other side, immediately recognizing it as Pink Diamond's. Pearl tore herself away from staring at Rose to see Jasper enter the lab, wincing in fear as she failed to perform her duties and remaining behind as Rose went past.

Rose's eyes lit up upon entering the room after Jasper and looked around, seeing several magic symbols etched in the walls and leading to several machines that lined the circumference of the round laboratory. She was enamored by the intricacy of the ritual signs and smiled as she saw Pink Diamond inspecting a containment chamber nearby.

"Ah, you're here faster than I expected." Pink Diamond said without looking at them. "I thought I sent my Pearl to get you; where is it?"

"It?" Rose was confused. "Well, **_she's_** –,"

"My sincerest apologies, Pink Diamond!" Pearl quickly knelt before Pink Diamond. "I went to welcome them as you instructed, but I –,"

"You worthless trash!" Pink Diamond backhanded Pearl, knocking her hard on the floor. "No one is to enter my lab without my permission and you are to make sure of that."

"Forgive me, my Lord, I won't let it happen again." Pearl said, healing a large cut Pink Diamond dealt on her cheek.

Rose gritted her teeth, trying not to act out of line and Pink Diamond turned to her and Jasper. "So, you're 717 and 726, correct?"

"Yes, and we're here to serve you diligently, Lord Diamond." Jasper stepped forward and stood at attention, stunning Rose with her disregard for what happened.

"Very nice." Pink Diamond ogled Jasper and moved up to her. "I'll be sure to make good use of you." She held the shorter woman's face and smelled her hair.

"So." Jasper tried to ignore what happened. "Wh-what orders do you have for us?"

"Orders? Relax, you just got here." Pink Diamond chuckled. "White Diamond killed your father to make an example of him, but you don't need to fear me; I won't lay a finger on you two."

"White Diamond did what?!" Jasper demanded.

"You didn't know? Well, White Diamond sent 700 on a solo mission to take down a Saiyan warship that was invading one of our nearby colonies fully knowing he'd be overwhelmed to make an example of him to the rest of his squad." Pink Diamond explained.

"Mom was right …" Rose realized.

"He deserved it for his insubordination and you two should learn from it." Pink Diamond said and returned to her work desk. "Pearl, give them the coordinates to the barracks so they can get settled."

"Yes, Lord Diamond." Pearl bowed and headed for the door, moving past Jasper who clenched her fists till her knuckles went white and glared at Pink Diamond, slowly releasing her energy aura.

* * *

JASPER YELLED angrily and smashed her fist through the wall of her and Rose's sleeping quarters, frightening her younger sister who quickly rushed to her side. "Jasper, be quiet; we don't want to draw any attention to ourselves." Rose pulled her hand out of the wall.

"You heard what Pink Diamond said; that bitch killed our father!" Jasper growled.

"Oh, so now you care? I thought you said these things happen." Rose said.

"I'd accept it if he died fighting for Home World, not if he was sent to die like a dog!" Jasper said. "We surpass their expectations in training and they want our gemstones repurposed, and now this?" She paced around then looked to Rose who remained silent. "How are you not enraged by this?"

"What are we supposed to do? They're gods, they do what they want."

"Well, not anymore." Jasper said.

"What're you talking about?" Rose became curious.

"We should make them suffer for their betrayal, the whole lot of them." Jasper explained. "We'll show them that they can't treat us like the rest of the trash that roams this planet; we'll show them what Quartzes are truly made of."

Rose hesitated then smiled. "You're right, let's do it – let's overthrow the Diamonds."

"Exactly." Jasper grinned then headed for the door. "Follow me."

"Whoa, what're you doing?" Rose stopped her.

"I'm going to find Pink Diamond and kill her first then we'll travel to Region White and take out White Diamond." Jasper said.

"We can't just attack them like that; we'll get killed." Rose said.

"Then what'd you suggest?"

"We should be strategic about this and know what we're truly up against." Rose said. "If we can first assess how strong the Diamonds really are, then we can come up with a plan to take them down."

"And how do we do that?" Jasper folded her arms.

"I know a good number of Quartzes from Region Yellow who hate the Diamonds more than we do, so we can round them up and a few others and form a solid rebellion right under the Diamond's noses." Rose smiled and stood proudly. "We'll call ourselves the Crystal Gems!"

Jasper deadpanned. "That's the shittiest name I've ever heard in my life."

"Well, I just came up with it and I like it." Rose pouted and crossed her arms.

"Ugh, forget it." Jasper rolled her eyes and headed out of the room. "I'll let you round up your friends or whatever and I'll keep an eye on the Diamonds."

"Great, just try to keep your cool, alright? We don't want to expose ourselves just like that, alright?" Rose said and Jasper left the room.

* * *

ROSE AND Pearl's lips locked as they fondled each other on the pink gem's bed, feeling around each other's bodies and ruffling up the sheets beneath the pink woman. Rose grabbed the pale woman's ass firmly and Pearl acted in kind, reaching down between her thighs. The pink woman moaned into her mouth as she rubbed against her when the door behind them flew open as Jasper punched it down and she turned to the two and recoiled in disgust.

"What the hell is this?!"

"Jasper? What're you doing here? You said you were out on an errand." Rose said, pushing Pearl off her and onto the floor. "Oh, sorry, Pearl."

"That was an hour ago!" Jasper said then raised her brow. "Pearl? You learned its name?"

"Hey, she's my girlfriend, you need to respect her."

"No, she has to leave, **_now_**!" Jasper growled and Pearl quickly rushed out of the room. "What the fuck are you doing fraternizing with the slaves?"

"Ugh, you're just mad because I'm fucking another woman." Rose said as she put her clothes on.

"Yes, I am, but there's no point trying to dissuade you from your repulsive tastes."

"What're you gonna do, huh?" Rose shrugged.

"Why are you wasting time, Rose?" Jasper shut the door and spoke in a lower tone of voice. "I thought you said you were trying to find Quartzes who'd join our cause."

"I told you it'd take time, and besides, there're more gems than Quartzes that can help us."

"It's been years now and you've shown me **_none_** of your progress." Jasper said. "For all I know, you're probably just fucking Pearl and Pink Diamond this whole time."

"Wait, how'd you know we're in a three-way relationship?" Rose asked.

"Oh, fucking hell, what kind of degenerate am I related to?" Jasper paced around angrily.

"Look, Jasper, I'm sorry, but you'll need to be more patient, alright?" Rose got off the bed. "I've been travelling around Home World while looking for recruits and I've had my eyes opened to everyone's suffering; Home World needs our help."

"Who cares about those lowly filth – they don't matter!"

"Yes, they do!"

"And what does that have to do with dating Pink Diamond? You're siding with the enemy now?" Jasper asked.

"Pink Diamond isn't that bad once you get to know her." Rose said. "And besides, she has knowledge that I think could help us. If I can apply some of her findings of magic to my own, it could really help in liberating Home World."

Jasper looked at Rose in disbelief. "What's wrong with you? This is supposed to be about redeeming our family's honor."

"Well, there's things more important than our pride, Jasper." Rose said then frowned slightly. "I hoped you'd understand that."

Jasper tried to speak, but frowned and simply left in a huff. Rose sighed as she slammed the door behind her then gasped as she saw Pearl crawl out from beneath her bed. "Is she gone now?" Pearl said with a smile.

"You scared me." Rose said then smiled. "You made a clone; you're a fast learner."

"Well, I had a good teacher." Pearl giggled and went up to her, pushing her against the wall.

"Hey, we should make this quick; she may be back soon." Rose said, but Pearl ignored her and went on her knees, slowly pulling off her pants.

* * *

AS THE years passed, tensions between Jasper and Rose grew as they stopped talking to each other and rarely saw one another while out on separate missions. Jasper was soon transferred to Region White and was promoted to the rank of Commander while Rose remained in Region Pink and became Pink Diamond's protégée, getting ingrained more and more into the magical arts.

Their time apart was coming to a close however as insurrection began to brew in the neighboring regions of Pink and Yellow. Reports of riots and attacks on Home World military facilities became more frequent as the years went by and though they seemed to have no real connection, Jasper knew it was Rose who was behind it. Jasper was torn by this however, having built a life for herself as one of White Diamond's top commanders, and was unsure if she'd give it all away to rejoin her sister.

One day after briefing her fellow commanders over a recent attack in Region Pink, Jasper headed through the halls of White Diamond's palace and made her way to her ship to meet with Yellow Diamond over the matter. As she went on however, she received an alert on her gauntlet's communicator and before she could check on it, Helio Quartz came running down the hall. "Commander Jasper, Region Blue is under attack!"

"What? How'd this happen?" Jasper rushed up to him and the two ran alongside each other.

"Orbital scans detected several warships entering our atmosphere five minutes ago, completely going past all our defenses and headed straight for Region Blue." Helio said.

"Then we have no time to lose, come on!" Jasper ran on.

Helio smirked. "Hey, have you been working out?"

"You can stare at my ass later, Helio, let's get going!" Jasper said and went through a door to her right.


	10. Dragonbloom

**DRAGONBLOOM**

A YOUNG SAPPHIRE stared at Ruby through the fireplace that separated them in the small cave in the outskirts of Region Blue's inner city. Ruby shuffled about, trying to gather some firewood in the corner of the cave and she noticed the blue girl staring at her, quickly becoming uncomfortable. "Y'know, you're kinda creeping me out here."

"I'm sorry." Sapphire chuckled uneasily. "I've never had friends before."

"Well, you and me both." Ruby smiled. "Tell ya what, I'll show you the ropes when it comes to interacting with people and you'll show me how you do this magicky stuff, alright?"

"Yeah, I'd like that." Sapphire smiled when a loud explosion erupted from outside, drawing her attention to the inner city that was going up in flames! "What the …?"

Chaos spread through the inner city streets as missiles rained upon buildings on the outer walls and gems ran about in a panic. A warship descended upon a building and opened its hanger doors to let out its occupants when a giant tube of water erupted from the ground beneath it and tore through it, ripping it to shreds! Commander Lapis landed on the ground nearby and studied the chaos around her, turning to her right where her Lieutenant Peridot appeared aboard a floating metal disc.

"Okay, Peridot, tell me what's going on here."

"I just visited the Security Outposts in this quadrant and they all claim to have detected several warships enter our atmosphere." Peridot explained.

"But, what kind of warships are these? There's no energy emanating from them and they're easy to destroy, but they went through the city barrier like nothing." Lapis turned back to the ship she skewered and frowned as it slowly disappeared. "That means …"

"Yup, they're fakes to distract us." Peridot looked to the sky and huffed as the barrier fizzled off above her. "And now they've shut off the barrier."

Lapis turned to her right and saw several armed Quartzes fly over the diminishing barrier and attack the royal guards below. "Guess I have to get to work then." She huffed and conjured water around her.

* * *

"REGION WHITE and Yellow are under attack as well, it's a full-scale invasion." Helio said on the other end.

"Alright, keep me posted and be sure to get in contact with Commander Lapis." Jasper replied.

"But, what about you? We need you here."

"I've got something I need to take care of; it shouldn't take long." Jasper said.

"Okay, just be careful." Helio said worriedly and cut the line.

Jasper pressed a button on her gauntlet and huffed as she walked out of her airship and looked at the dilapidated streets of Region Pink around her. She strolled across the dust road and took in the scenery, the memories of the place coming back to her from years ago. Stepping into an alley, she went up to a dumpster and looked at the ground, sensing the energy beneath, and fired an energy ball down and blowing a hole before her leading underground.

Jumping into the depths, she walked down a sewer and searched around for a bit, finding a hidden door by the wall and blasting through it as well, finding a large empty room dimly lit by a single light above. "So, I was right; you did have a tracker on me." Rose said as she stepped out of the shadows.

"I had to keep an eye on you somehow; you weren't speaking to me." Jasper said. "What're you doing, Rose?"

"What? It's just like we planned, remember? Take down the Diamonds; make them pay for what they did and whatnot."

"We were supposed to do this together."

"I figured you were no longer on board with the plan, so I had to carry it on myself, **_Commander_**." Rose said.

"This was supposed to be about Dad, not these worthless insects; we're nothing if our family name isn't feared." Jasper said.

"Boy, you sure are stuck in the past."

"So, what's your plan then? You're going to take out the Diamond's and rule Home World with Pearl?" Jasper asked.

Rose burst out in laughter. "Pearl?" She wiped a tear. "I'm surprised you remembered the name of my pet." She looked around. "Ah, no, no, I'm not going to stay on Home World with any of them."

"But, I thought you said you were dating her; or did I miss something."

Rose chuckled. "I grew tired of our play, both with her and Pink Diamond; I seek more than a dead end existence with either of them." She paced around. "I want to be a god."

Jasper blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"The time I've spent with Pink Diamond really opened my eyes to how powerless we all are; we can never defeat the Diamonds." Rose said. "You've felt it too, the overwhelming power that they hold back despite what we can feel on the surface." Jasper frowned and Rose saw this, knowing she understood what she said. "They are gods by all measure; mortals can't touch them even if they tried."

"So you want to become one of them?"

"Or to at least find something that can stop them, yes." Rose huffed. "I know this started because of what happened to dad and after mom … but, we need to move past that; there's things that are more important now."

Jasper paused for a moment. "How are you supposed to become a god exactly?"

"Pink Diamond once told me of a primordial energy found at the core of all planets that support life called Gaia Energy and that if you gain access to it, you can have a piece of the very energy of the cosmos!" Rose said. "The only races to ever access Gaia Energy are Terrans and Celestials and very few worlds have had their energy unearthed, so I'll go to a planet called Earth to gain access to it for myself using Pink Diamond's research!"

"So, you were planning to do this without me then? This was our goal; we were supposed to overthrow the Diamonds together, not to bring along worthless trash!" Jasper growled.

"I can't let anything get in the way of my plans, not even you Jasper."

"And what were these attacks for then? You just wanted to cause chaos for the sake of it?" Jasper asked.

"I needed the Gems to believe in my cause, so we threw a few riots and saved a few gems to make them believe we could win together, but they don't stand a chance at all." Rose said and began walking away. "Right now, I just need some of the gems to create a diversion so I can get off this world undetected and I'll continue the ruse on earth with the few that remain. When I find the energy I need, I'll dispose of the Crystal Gems and take the Diamonds down myself."

Jasper watched as Rose left and clenched her fist. "You're not going anywhere!" She moved up to her. "Those gems you've aligned yourself with might be worthless trash, but they're still your allies. You never turn your back on a soldier."

"So, now you care about them? You've looked down on everyone from day one and the moment I do the same, I'm the one who's in the wrong? You need to make up your mind, Jasper." Rose chuckled. "If you want to fight for the worthless pride of a dead man or the lives of a few hopeless gems, be my guest. Although, you might need to defend yourself first."

"What're you talking about?"

"I suspected you'd get in my way, so I figured I'd leave some evidence suggesting your involvement in the insurrection for Pink Diamond to find."

"You did what!?" Jasper's energy aura began to rise.

"I'd say they'd be here in a few minutes." Rose snapped her fingers, letting down her illusion spell to reveal several maps and plans laid upon tables all around her that were in Jasper's writing along with other incriminating evidence. "You'd better get moving if you don't want them to find you."

Jasper screamed in rage and flew at Rose ready to attack when a magic symbol appeared on the ground below her and bound her to the floor with an invisible force. Rose shook her head and moved up to Jasper as she struggled against the pull of the spell. "You've always looked down on others and only show that you care when it makes you look good. You did it with Dad, you did it with Mom and you did it with me all these years thinking I wouldn't catch on." Rose held Jasper's chin. "You could have joined me, but you were too caught up in your mind to make the right choices. And now, you can truly choose what matters to you."

Jasper glared at Rose and threw a punch at her, but hit air as she vanished suddenly and she collapsed on the floor instead. Rising to her feet, she looked around and saw no sign of Rose anywhere, deciding to go out and search for her. Before she could take a step however, she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see some of Pink Diamond's soldiers armed with energy rifles entering the room.

"Jasper, so it really was you." One of the gem soldiers said.

"How could you do this? What were you thinking?" Another gem soldier said.

"Amber Topaz? Lily Carnelian? Wh-what're you doing here?" Jasper said, starting to breathe heavily.

"What're **_you_** doing here?" Amber Topaz said. "The last time I saw you was at the graduation ceremony and you never talked to me again."

"You really chose to give up your rank for this?" Lily Carnelian gestured at the tables behind Jasper. "A fruitless rebellion that's cost the lives of your own men?"

"No, this is a mistake; I didn't do this!" Jasper said.

"Look, Jasper, just come with us and you can explain this to the Diamonds, okay?" Amber Topaz said. "Pink ordered us to kill you on sight, but we can just take you there if you come with us peacefully. You'd be stripped of your rank and you'd be a regular soldier like the rest of us, but you'd still be alive."

"I can't believe this shit; I thought you were better than this." Lily Carnelian said. "Come on, we don't have all day."

Jasper looked at her old friends and the other soldiers among them and tried to think of what to do next. "Jasper, just come with us, please." Amber Topaz said. "Your pride can't be worth your life, can it?"

"… No, it isn't." Jasper said finally. "I'm sorry."

"Jasper, what're you –," Amber Topaz tried to say when Jasper shot her head clean off with an energy blast from her hand!

"Take her down!" Lily Carnelian cried and opened fire on Jasper along with the other soldiers.

Jasper took the assault like it was nothing and mowed through each of the soldiers, breaking their bones like twigs and smashing their gemstones to pieces! Lily Carnelian was the last to remain and she fell back futilely blasting Jasper with her rifle desperately trying to keep her away. Jasper knocked her rifle aside and Lily pleaded helplessly. "Jasper, please!"

Without hesitating, Jasper punched through Lily Carnelian's chest and tore her fist out of her back, skewering her heart and her gemstone at the same time! She panted as she felt the life fade from Lily Carnelian's body, setting her down and looking at her lifeless eyes one last time. Dislodging her arm from the corpse, she looked around at the battered and torn bodies that lay around her, finally realizing what she had done as she turned to her old friends lying dead beside her.

It all came crashing down at once and tears flowed freely from her eyes as she broke down and wept on her knees in the middle of the room. She let it all out as she knelt alone, but a sudden clapping caught her attention and she looked to see Pink Diamond materializing before her. "That was an excellent performance." Pink Diamond applauded.

"Pink Diamond?" Jasper backed up.

"Come now, after all this time and you're not comfortable around me?" Pink Diamond said and saw the confused look in Jasper's eyes and began pacing around the room. "When I first heard White Diamond's plan to off your father without you two knowing, I thought I'd use the opportunity to give you a little push into taking action. Knowing how rambunctious you Quartzes can be, I set off a spark of rebellion in you two and let Rose come across all that she needed to set her off on her goal." Jasper remained silent and Pink Diamond smiled, taking her leave. "Pick yourself up and get rid of the Crystal Gems' little rebellion outside; we still have use for you as a Commander."

"… Why would you do this? What if Rose succeeds?"

Pink Diamond paused for a moment. "If Rose gets the power she desires, she may do what I've dreamed of for a long time." She vanished, leaving Jasper behind.

* * *

JASPER GULPED down the last of her alcohol and tossed her bottles aside, sitting back in her chair in the bridge of her ship. It'd been a few days since the Crystal Gems' great insurrection that blew up into a full on war that spanned weeks dubbed the 'Great Gem War' as several of Home World's civilians took up arms against their masters as well. Many lives were lost, civilians and soldiers alike, and some of her friends whom she had to execute when they rebelled as well.

She squinted her bloodshot eyes lazily as a bright light nearly blinded her and finally heard the loud alarms blasting from the ship's onboard computer over the ringing in her ears. She grunted and looked around, only fully gaining her senses as she saw her ship colliding with the ground!

* * *

JASPER CAME to slowly on a soft bed of grass a couple hours later and sat up groggily. She took in her surroundings and failed to recognize the planet she was on, finally fully awake as she saw a large dragon staring down at her from above! "Oh, you're finally up, poor thing." A gentle voice came from the massive creature.

Jasper rushed to her feet, ready to be attacked, but then became confused as the dragon simply offered her a smile. She lowered her guard a little, took a better look at the place, and realized it was a lush starlit valley. Several dragons roamed the plains on both land and air, some of them gigantic and tall as skyscrapers and others as small as average house cats. She felt at ease as she saw them basking in the tranquil and beautiful mountainous veld, but then tensed up as her eyes set upon an enormous black beast that sat upon a mountain in the distance.

"Where are you from, little one?" The female dragon asked.

"I am Commander Jasper." The orange Quartz said. "I come from –,"

"Home World, right?" A deep, breathy voice said behind Jasper. The gem jolted as she heard this and turned to see the large black dragon from before standing behind her.

Jasper backed up in a panic from the two hundred and sixty foot tall creature that cast a shadow over her and the dragon from before and blocked out the sun behind him. The dragons all around drew their attention upon him as well and the moment they did, they noticed Jasper. It was as if the planet all ganged up on her as they set their eyes on her then returned their gaze back to the black dragon.

Confused and excited mutters came from the creatures nearest to Jasper and she heard them marvel at the beast who hadn't come down from the mountain in months. "So, I take it you're their leader." Jasper said.

"I am Elder Dragon, the Protector and Leader of Dragonbloom." The black dragon said. "What is it you want, outsider?"

Jasper's nerves finally got to her as she heard his words, finally recognizing her surroundings. Many stories of this place had spread among Blue and White Diamond's forces for several years now of the legendary Star Dragons, beings who were said to outmatch the Diamonds themselves and power and divinity. She dismissed them as mere myth this whole time, but was now unsure as she stood before the Elder Dragon and felt his immense energy.

"I've had this place concealed from other life forms for eons; even Thanos could not find this place." Elder Dragon said. "But I suppose I underestimated those three children on Home World." He looked down at her and his eyes began to glow, terrifying the dragons nearby who scampered in a panic. "I'll have to make an example of you to those who still search for this place."

Jasper saw the other dragons flee and she gasped and quickly conjured an energy shield around her as the Elder Dragon fired light beams at her from his eyes. She was immediately overwhelmed as she withstood the onslaught that washed over her and panicked as her gemstone broke in two! Acting swiftly, she teleported away from the blast and appeared a few feet away, breathing heavily and trying to heal her gemstone.

Elder Dragon turned to Jasper and she quickly got to her feet and charged at him, leaving her gemstone to heal steadily. She knew she was outmatched, she knew she stood no chance of winning, but she would never run from a fight even if it were suicide.

Speeding over the ground until she was nothing more than a blur, she swerved around Elder Dragon's lasers as he blasted at her again, and she leapt up to the beast's face. Her energy aura erupted wildly from her body as she cranked her arm back and she punched the dragon with all her might. A concussive wave spread out from the collision and ripped through the valley behind her like a violent wind, tearing the ground below to shreds and parting the clouds above like a knife!

Jasper's green energy surged more violently, turning red as her raged bubbled through, and she saw that the dragon had taken her attack like nothing. Shifting tactics, she teleported back to the ground and sped off. She looked back expecting an energy blast, but frowned as she saw Elder Dragon flying down at her with his mouth open to eat her whole!

Turning quickly, she planted her feet in the ground and held the dragon's face with her hands, trying to hold back the creature that was about the size of a skyscraper! Elder Dragon pushed the tiny Quartz several feet back, but was stunned as she managed to hold him back and stop his momentum! She panted and looked forward only to be blasted pointblank with a massive ball of plasma the dragon fired from his mouth!

Jasper stood in place as the blast was too large to avoid and she acted instinctively, raising her hands and absorbing the energy into her body! She was strained by the small amount she took in, but withstood it as it was all she needed to assess what his energy was like. Spinning on her heel, she directed the energy around her and diverted it behind her, letting it fly out into space and destroy a nearby asteroid!

The Elder Dragon watched as the asteroid crumbled and rose to the air as he turned his gaze to Jasper, impressed at her quick thinking. Jasper stared the giant down and flew toward him, engaging him once more.

The two fought on for two weeks on end from that point without stopping, ripping apart a large portion of the planet in their struggle. The other dragons watched from a distance in awe as they'd never seen their Elder so active and so terrifying. The oldest among them however felt something was off with the way he fought the stranger.

Jasper skidded to a stop and stood up weakly. She looked to the sky above and stared at one of the nearby suns as it collapsed into a black hole. She finally took the time to look around at the damage they'd dealt to the once lush planet, amazed that very little of the ground remained stable as most of the core was exposed and only small pieces of the earth remained floating on the bubbling lava.

She lost track of time and lost most of her feeling in her limbs, her body going numb from all the injuries she'd endured. Despite this, she felt exhilarated and alive. It'd been so long since she let out this much energy and truly tested her limits.

Her thoughts were cut off as she saw Elder Dragon come flying at her. She stood at the ready, expecting an attack, but the Elder simply landed on an island nearby and stared at her for a while.

Jasper let down her guard and became puzzled at the dragon's sudden change in attitude. "What're you doing? Fight me!" She yelled.

"Killing Yellow Diamond won't be enough, Jasper, not the way you are now." Elder Dragon said.

"What? How do you know my name?"

"You won't be able to defeat the Diamonds with the strength you have and even if you had such power, taking their lives will bring you no peace."

Jasper frowned and moved up to him. "How'd you know what my intentions were?"

"I've kept an eye on Home World for quite a while and I've known of the horrors the Diamonds have brought upon many worlds. I've hated their actions for the longest time." Elder Dragon said.

"You have? Then why haven't you done anything about it?" Jasper said, healing her wounds as she spoke. "I can tell you held back a lot of your power earlier, though I don't know why, but if anyone could take them down, it'd be someone with your strength."

"It wouldn't be as meaningful if I interfered and it'd endanger my people if I exposed myself." He said. "Home World's savior has to come from within."

"You think I'd be able to take them out?"

"Whether you defeat the Diamonds or not is not important, what matters is what it means to you." Elder Dragon said. "What will you gain from defeating them?"

"They killed my father and destroyed my family; I want vengeance!" Jasper answered sharply.

"And will that be enough for you?"

"Of course it will! I …" Jasper hesitated. "I don't know …"

"Before you can think of taking down the Diamonds, you need to find your place, find out who you are." Elder Dragon said. "You've lived your entire life in service to the Diamonds, never questioning their orders. With them gone, you'll need to chart your own path."

"But how would I do that? My entire family's gone, I've lost friends … I killed some of them …"

"Why don't you spend some time with us here?" Elder Dragon said.

Jasper stepped back, rattled, as the ground beneath her rumbled and started growing out over the lava that surrounded her! In near instant, the once destroyed planet quickly reformed and returned to its lush state as if their battle never happened. Looking around in awe, Jasper turned to the Elder Dragon whom the other dragons gathered around.

"A change of scenery can provide a new perspective, a new way to look at life." Elder Dragon said. Hesitating, Jasper thought for a bit and stepped up to the Elder Dragon.

* * *

YEARS WENT by on Dragonbloom as Jasper routinely visited and spent time among the Star Dragons, finding serenity in the time away from Home World. She had her eyes opened to the spiritual and supernatural, to the energies that held the cosmos together as she interacted with Elder Dragon and learnt of the endless possibilities she had outside battle or servitude to the Diamonds. Though it was difficult, she began to learn to value life as she got closer to the star dragon clan she'd grow to call family.

One day however, the Elder Dragon called her aside to Black Mount, a place she'd never been allowed to set foot on before. Climbing to the summit, Jasper looked out over the valley lit by two suns and was enamored by the view from Dragonbloom's highest point. She looked to the furthest point of the summit where the Elder Dragon sat and moved up to him. "You called me?"

"The view from the summit of this mountain is unlike any other, it allows you to see the entirety of Dragonbloom and beyond; every dragon, young and old and every inch of this vast planet." Elder Dragon said. "No one except I have set foot here."

"Why have you allowed me here? I thought it was forbidden for anyone else to be here."

"I feel you understand enough about us, I think I can trust you now." Elder Dragon said, " But it'll be the last you'll ever see of this place."

"What're you talking about?" Jasper asked.

"I feel it's time you left Dragonbloom. I wanted to open your eyes to new possibilities and new paths you could take your life in away from Home World." Elder Dragon turned to her. "It's time you made that choice."

Jasper looked to the dragons that frolicked in the valleys before, an unconscious smile gracing her face as she remembered her times with them and how she'd become accustomed to living a double life as one of them when she'd snuck away from Home World. But she agreed with Elder Dragon, she needed to decide for herself what to do next now that her sister was gone; she couldn't stall anymore.

"I understand, I'll take my leave." Jasper began to walk off and stopped at the edge of the summit, looking to the valley below one last time. She turned back to Elder Dragon. "… Thank you, for everything."

Jasper hesitated and shot off into the sky, leaving the atmosphere. Elder Dragon watched her as she left, fully understanding her without her saying anything. She was more determined than ever to annihilate the Diamonds and avenge her family, whether it was purely out of vengeance or something more was for her to decide.

* * *

IN PRESENT day on Black Mount, Jasper stared at the now frail and smaller Elder Dragon, thinking over what he'd said. She'd come to convince herself after all these years that she'd sought to save Home World from the Diamonds' tyrannical rule, but she now wasn't sure that was true at all anymore.

"You're right; I never wanted to save Home World." Jasper said and sat down beside him. "I guess I'd told myself that over time because it sounded better, but I still wanted to avenge my father this whole time … but I'm not even sure about that anymore."

"Rose was right about me; I've constantly put on faces so l could rise up the ranks in Home World and looked down on everyone around me, even my family. Now that all that I care about is gone, I don't know what to do with myself. I could simply lead my own life, but I can't just leave Home World behind." Jasper said. "I just don't know."

Elder Dragon looked at Jasper as she sat beside him, sensing her distress without having to read her thoughts. "I saw your son help in slowing down Dragonbloom's decay, I'm thankful." He looked out to the valley beyond. "I suppose I too have been at odds with myself for too long."

Jasper felt a sudden warmth beside her and turned to Elder Dragon and seeing him starting to glow. "It was foolish of me to keep my children's bodies here and keep them from naturally decaying; I couldn't save them, but I couldn't let them go either." Elder Dragon said.

Jasper felt a similar warmth spread out all around and she turned to see the corpses lying all around the planet all start to disintegrate into particles of light that began to vanish! "Elder, what're you –,"

"I'm glad you're finally being honest with yourself; your willingness to change can save Home World" Elder Dragon said, starting to vanish as well! "Call on me whenever you need me and I shall come to your aid, and maybe one day, we can bring back Dragonbloom and let it be reborn."

"Elder, wait, you can't just –," Jasper yelled and reached out to him, but he vanished in an instant!

Jasper stood and watched in shock as the dragons all faded away, watching the light particles left by the Elder Dragon diminish before her. She looked around at the now empty planet, feeling hollow as she'd lost the last family she ever knew.

* * *

IN REGION White, Amethyst, Lion, Zenoth and Beryl arrived just in time to stop Lapis and Sapphire who were chasing after White Diamond. Their reunion quickly took a turn when Sapphire claimed Zenoth was Yellow Diamond's son, confusing Amethyst and Beryl.

"Yellow Diamond's son? What're you talking about?" Sapphire echoed in confusion

"That's ridiculous, I don't believe it." Beryl said and turned to Zenoth who lowered his head. "You've got to be kidding …"

"She's right, I am a Diamond." Zenoth said. "I'm Yellow Diamond's son."

Beryl froze in shock. "So, you were playing us this whole time!?"

"No, I wasn't, but I knew gems wouldn't trust me in my normal form." Zenoth said. "I want to defeat the Diamonds and free Home World, but I can't do it on my own." He turned to Sapphire. "I'm sure you understand, don't you?"

Sapphire considered what he said and sighed. "I understand." Zenoth smiled in relief.

"Well, we can't doddle around any longer, we need to find White Diamond quickly." Lapis said, heading out of the room.

"She's most likely heading to Region Blue." Zenoth said.

"That's all the way in the other Region, how're we gonna get there without a warp pad?" Amethyst asked.

"I'll take us there." Zenoth said and fired energy from his hand at the floor a few feet away, creating a portal that formed on the ground. "Follow me."

Sapphire and Lapis hesitated as Amethyst, Lion and Beryl followed Zenoth then headed in after them.

* * *

CAULIFLA HELPED Kale up as they made their way through the destroyed laboratory in Region White, the pair completely lost as to where they were or what had happened to them. They weren't injured from what they could tell, but felt drained of their power which left them vulnerable.

They came up to a turn and quickly stopped as they heard multiple footsteps coming down the hall! They spun around and tried to head back where they came, but were blocked by debris that fell from the ceiling. Before they could break through however, they heard voices behind them.

"Are you sure this's where the energy came from?" Goten asked.

"I'm sure of it." Trunks said as he came around the corner with Goten, Greg and Peridot behind him, and he grinned in excitement upon seeing Caulifla and Kale. "It's them!"

"Stay back!" Caulifla shoot a ki blast at him, and he smacked it aside, stunning her. "What the …"

"Calm down, we're on your side." Trunks said, moving up to the two with Goten following behind him.

"Huh, there's a lot more Saiyans than I expected." Greg said to himself.

"We came to get you out of here." Trunks said. "We're Avengers."

"The Avengers? Oh my God, we're saved!" Kale cheered and hugged Goten excitedly.

"Kale, you can't just believe them like that! They could be imposters for all we know." Caulifla frowned.

"Well, we're the only option you've got." Trunks said. "You were kidnapped by the Diamonds and we were sent to bring you back to your world."

Caulifla stared at Trunks curiously. "… Well, we've got no choice here. Fine, we'll go with you."

"Alright then, mission accomplished." Goten said. "Let's head back to earth."

"We can't just leave, Goten." Trunks said.

"Why not, we got what we came for." Goten said.

"The Diamonds are clearly up to something, we can't just leave things like this." Trunks explained. "For all we know, earth could be a target again."

Goten groaned. "Fine, whatever."

"Well, since you're now reunited, it'd be probably a good time to find the other Crystal Gems." Peridot said. "I'm sensing a dark energy rising on the planet and that's never a good sign."

"You're right, let's get back to the RV." Greg said, walking off. "We're heading to Region Blue.


End file.
